Swing Solutions

The only difference between you and an Iron Byron, the golf ball testing robot, is that you have emotions and adrenaline to change the consistency of your swing. You know what you want to accomplish with every swing but your mental state, physical condition and levels of adrenaline will affect every swing that you make.

Bobby Jones, the founder of The Masters at Augusta National gave us the quote that was plaguing Sergio Garcia: “Competitive golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course… the space between your ears.” Sergio’s win at the Masters tells us that he finally mastered his head and his adrenaline.

Sergio Garcia has finally found confidence with the new love in his life. Try CALM and RELAXED when you golf and let it all out when you win.

YOUR GOAL IS CONSISTENCY: We all hit great shots for a percent of our hits using every club. Your goal is to repeat that swing with each club. So why is it so difficult to repeat that swing?  You have to swing with the same emotional tempo. When you are excited or your adrenaline is pumping, you are a different person than the person who is confident, relaxed and just trying to layup a perfect shot.

How often do you say to yourself “Just swing easy”? Then you step up to the ball and try to knock the crap out of that ball. What were you thinking?

I recently played in a tournament where I stepped up to the first tee and felt like it was the tee-off at the Masters. Adrenaline?  You bet!  I topped the ball 100 yards down the fairway. After this embarrassing start I proceeded to swing harder to catch up to my competitor on my next shot. Too bad, same result.

SOLUTION: RELAX, PERFECT PRACTICE SWING and PERFECT HIT
1/ When you make a poor shot, accept the fact that you may bogie the hole. You need to change your goal for that hole as if you are playing against yourself to avoid a double bogie.
2/ If your shot puts you in a poor position behind trees or in the rough, accept the fact that you may bogie the hole. Select the right club to get your ball back in play on the fairway. Avoid the blow-up hole.
3/ Whether you are on the tee at the first hole or hitting from a poor location or you are headed for a bogie, you need to calm your mind. Relax your body. Accept the fact that your next shot is the only shot that matters.
4/ As you prepare to setup for your next shot mentally say the words “calm and relaxed”, drop your shoulders and make the practice swing with the exact tempo that you plan for your hit.
5/ In your practice swing, relax your arms to ensure that your wrists are loose to allow your club enough time to reach the perfect lag position in your backswing (as your weight shift from your trailing leg to your leading leg). Hear the whooshing sound when you execute the release of your wrists.
6/ You know how to swing from the inside to up the line. Once more, mentally say “calm and relaxed” and duplicate your perfect practice swing as you hit the perfect shot.

RELAX, PERFECT PRACTICE SWING for the identical PERFECT HIT

You can’t be successful in golf unless your mind is focused on the perfect swing and your adrenaline level is low. Practice with your GOLFSTR+ at the driving range before you play to get the feeling of the perfect release [without killing the ball]. Learn to lag with your wrists in your backswing so that you can create a whooshing sound as you whip the club head through the ball. Buy a GOLFSTR+ TODAY for 6 swing fixes at www.golfstr.com

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There is a big difference between your game and the way the professional golfers approach their game. You have limited time and they make a living with their full time occupation. As a recreational golfer, you need to accept this fact and focus on the key tricks that will help lower your score.  You spend less time working on your game than the pros  so you have to do the little things that will work best for you.

Slow Down: Arrive early for your round of golf and get your body and mind slowed down. Always work on getting in the zone to play golf and enjoy it. You can’t do this if your mind is listening to rock and roll music and you are driving like a demon to get to the course.

Warm Up: Take your time to stretch your body and then hit some short and progressively longer shots at the range. Tight muscle will stain and ruin your game if you don’t start swinging with a full range of motion and comfortable timing.

What’s Working?: Figure out what is working at the range with your wedges, irons, woods (hybrids) and driver. Set a game plan for each type of club to ensure that you are setting up correctly and swinging with a consistent tempo. Use that feeling for each club throughout your game.

Putting: Don’t start your game until you test the speed of the greens on the practice green. As greens dry out during the day they will speed up but you need a baseline to start from for your first putts in your round.

Be calm and relaxed. Sort out the swing that is working for you and get in your zone for total focus for every swing.

Get in YOUR FOCUSED ZONE: Take your comfortable swing tempo from the driving range to the first tee. Snap your mind into a focus on each hit. You have a routine so stick with it. Use it to control your setup and your mind. Seeing others swing like a mad man should have no effect on your next swing. Line up your target. Take a full practice swing exactly the way you want to hit the ball. Step forward to the ball, relax your shoulders & grip and complete your swing in a calm and relaxed zone.

Your Game Plan:  You only need to hit 1 shot at a time. Forget any other shot and only focus on your next shot. [Ben Hogan said that the most important shot in golf is your next shot.]  Tiger Woods seems to get into a Zen State and Jason Day goes into a trance as he squints his eyes. You can’t play well if your mind is not on your game. Jason showed this when he had to drop out of the Dell Match Play Tournament after the first few holes when his concentration was on his mother’s struggle with Cancer. Above all else your mind and focus has to be on executing your next shot.

Learn the key basics for your swing with GOLFSTR+. See the results at the range and build confidence in your swing with your GOLFSTR+ for 6 swing fixes. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

I love to find shocking articles by credible writers to give me the real truth about ways to improve my golf game.  Stephen Altschuler – in a recent GolfWRX BLOG wrote “Forgiving irons? A perspective you might not like.” I just wanted to share the abbreviated version of his comments because I always thought that this was the truth.

“Club manufacturers have glommed onto the term “forgiving” to coax golfers to their products, and I think it’s done more to detract beginners from learning the game properly and eventually dropping out. In the process, people try the game thinking their forgiving clubs will essentially do it all for them, almost by magic.

Today, with irons looking more like garden tools, and drivers more like battle-axes, forgiveness is the keyword. As the commercial for the XE1 wedge says: “The XE1 is awesome. It just popped the ball right up,” says a guy with a swing not unlike Charles Barkley’s. Effortless? The club does all the work? Right: All you have to do is take the same lousy swing you’ve brought to the course for 30 years, and it bounces right on the green. I kid the XE1. It’s probably a fine club, (tongue-in-cheek) but we all know down deep the club is probably not much better than Gene Sarazen’s sand wedge he invented in 1928. You still need to swing the club properly to make it do what it was intended to do. That takes good instruction and lots of practice.

Back in the day, with a 200cc persimmon driver, you had to have pretty darn good technique to make solid contact, so the emphasis for the recreational golfer was solid contact and not so much club head speed. Swings then were smoother, better paced, slower and more athletic.

Do you really believe that these beauties will make all the difference in your game. It will cost you $300+ to find out for sure.

But in one of the greatest marketing ploys in sports history, golf club manufacturers have convinced us that salvation was in larger and larger club head sizes for both irons and drivers, digging out huge cavities in the backs of irons, switching to whippier and ever-lighter graphite shafts, and fatter, flatter, less tapered grips. These days, young golfers wouldn’t know what Trevino meant when he joked, after being struck by lightning with a long-iron in his hands, “Only God can hit a 1-iron.”

You can’t reliably buy a guaranteed better game, unless you’re talking about lessons. If you practice the wrong fundamentals, you will dig yourself a deeper golf hole. As Palmer says in a recent TV spot, “Swing your swing. Perfect in its imperfection. Swing your swing. I know: I did.” And, please, don’t buy a club because it’s more forgiving. Just forgive yourself for not using your pro more often, and squeezing in just a bit more time for practice and playing.”

I love to read the hype about new club concepts that will turn my game on fire. It’s just lots of hype. Save your money for lessons after you get a good club fitting to match your strength and ability with the right clubs for you.

To help you hone in the right swing with a straight leading arm, flat wrist and lag, why not buy a GOLFSTR+ to help you with 6 swing fixes. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

This is a refreshing thought! We are always being told to “swing like a pro”. Could it be possible that the untrained everyday Joe or Jane CAN’T swing like a pro. I have learned that I can’t swing exactly like a pro and I have seen what others have done to overcome weaknesses in there swing. I just wanted to share these observations with you because it may lead to your golfing success with more consistent hits.

Take for example the situation where a person has been injured in war, in a car accident or in past athletic endeavors (with a broken leg, arm or ankle while skiing or a wrenched shoulder while reaching for a ball or even a jar on a shelf). Yes, this could be anyone of us and we don’t realize that the limitation in our muscles is harming our swing.

I recently read an article by Shawn Clement, a Class A Professional at Richmond Hill Golf Club in Ontario, Canada advising that you should “use your natural physiology to improve your swing and your game”. I had never thought of it this way. For example: if your natural body swing is a blocked swing at 15 degrees to your target line why not swing with an open stance by 15 degrees to the left. Just setup that way and hit up your target line.

Rory McIlroy has a unique swing and you do too. Take lessons to get it right and then make your swing work for you.

These are examples of my friends who are adapting to accommodate a physical limitation:
-Mary: (major car accident). Her back swing is with a bent leading arm but she releases her arms and club to a straight arm at impact and has an amazing 200 yard drive.  [She also lifts her leading foot like a baseball player swinging a bat and she loses her balance backwards on every swing.  YES, she breaks every rule for a great golf swing and still has a  Handicap Index of 15.]
-Frank: (Swollen arm from an infection in his youth.) He sets up his drive with an extremely closed stance and consistently nails the ball up the center of the fairway.
-Andy: (An athlete with timing limitations.) He sets up with more pressure on his leading foot so that he can control his hits for extreme distance and direction control.
-Myself: (Lower back discectomy limiting spine rotation.) I setup with an open stance and slightly open club face to allow an inside to up the target line swing to control my direction.

Shawn Clement found research that proves that your body positions in your backswing is never exactly the same. Your mind compensates to hit up your target line. He said that “Your mind needs to focus on your target. Your target will change your swing to adapt to hit to the target.” I’m just recommending that you go one step further. Sort out your physical limitation. Then setup for your golf swing to work with your limitation. You will only be successful if you focus on YOUR consistent setup for YOUR body.

You may not have any physical limitations but I’m willing to bet that your swing will change as your body ages. You may have noticed it with Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer as we watched them age. It’s still in your best interest to swing with a straight leading arm, flat wrist and with wrist lag in your backswing for more consistent and longer hits. GOLFSTR+ is a great training aid to help you learn 6 swing fixes. Buy one today at:   www.golfstr.com

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I love the recent blog from Hank Haney where he said that he’s not a big fan of the hocus pocus suggestion to focus on a target and expect that the ball will go there. Picking your target is a critical starting point but simplifying our thoughts to create the swing to get your ball there is the only thing that counts.

You have to choose your target, decide on the best shot shape, finalize your setup to execute the shot and then and only then focus on a swing thought to make the shot.

1/ Determine your target direction and draw an imaginary line back to your ball. (Your target direction is the line where you want your ball to launch and then draw or fade to your target.)
2/ Then choose a leaf or fat blade of grass at an intermediate point on that line a few feet out from your ball (so that you can still see it when you setup to the ball).
3/ Set your toes on a parallel line to your target line in preparation for you practice swing.
4/ Adjust your feet and ball position to achieve your desired draw or fade.
5/ Take your practice swing exactly at the speed that you want to swing and finish.
6/ Move up to your ball, relax your shoulders and wrists.  Inhale and exhale.

From this point onward you are NOT looking up at your end target. You are only looking at your club face pointing a few feet up your target line to that blade of grass. Your only goal is to launch your ball up your line.

Complete your setup and THEN lock into a single swing thought and make it happen.

Now that you are lined up you need a single thought in your mind to make sure that you are creating the swing for a perfect impact to launch your ball and finish with a balanced stance on your leading foot. At the driving range before your round you may determine a swing thought for that perfect hit.

Your thought might be one of these:

– “Slow my backswing and transition for time to lag my wrists”
– “Swing from the inside and up my target line”
– “Rotate my arms, shoulders and then my hips for a full backswing.”
– “Swing up my target line to a balanced finish.”
– “Hold my head to prevent any swaying as I coil my body.”
– “Keep my eyes focused on the back of the ball”
– “Sweep in annnnd Balance”  [say it as you swing and impact the ball on the word “Balance”.]

If you want longer and more consistent hits, practice with your GOLFSTR+ to learn to swing with a straight leading arm, flat wrist and lag. By one today at www.golfstr.com

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First Hole Jitters?  There is always a build-up in your mind about that first drive on the first hole. There is a lot of pressure because your drive sets up your success or failure for each hole.

If you are not confident with your setup for each drive, a build-up of Adrenalin will play tricks on your mind and your swing. Lingering memories of your last drive (good or bad) or a poor shot on the previous hole can destroy your next drive.  Get a grip on your head before you start each round of golf.

Golf Digest shows what happens when you swing with all arms and then the correct way.

Have you ever noticed how others mess up their drives. They take a practice swing at a 50% speed: hips start the down swing and they release their swing perfectly.  But when they step forward to the ball, it’s a new ball game. The backswing is rushed so they never finish it. In their rush they miss the hip shift to their leading foot. The swing becomes all arms, causing an early release of the arms before the foot pressure shifts from the back foot to the front foot. This causes fat hits, topped balls, duck hooks or high flying slices.

It seems that our minds can’t handle the thought of hitting that little white ball. That ball seems to cause the “Dragon in our Minds” to rear its ugly head and unleash a killer swing with any result but a good one.

Get rid of that Ugly Dragon in your head every time you play golf.

It is easier to see this in others but it may also be your problem. A lesson will help, but your mind has to accept that the rush to reach the top of your swing is killing your results. Hank Haney said that a professional golfer’s downswing swing is 3 times faster than their backswing. You need to take your time to complete your full backswing without rushing the transition to the downswing. You may even want to try that full stop at the top of your swing like Hideki Matsuyama [but it is rare to see this being tried by others].

I know that my mind occasionally kicks into high gear and that Ugly Dragon rears his head to mess up some of my shots. We all need to be aware of that Ugly Dragon hiding inside our heads.

Calming the Dragon is what we all need to do. Don’t let Adrenalin over power your swing.

SOLUTIONS:
-Get rid of your tension by setting up with relaxed shoulders (let them drop)
-Loosen your grip.
-Take your time to complete your backswing, transition and weight shift to your leading leg.
-If you can’t create the weight shift, setup with 75% of your weight on your leading foot.
-Make sure that you are consistently hitting your ball in the center of your club face.
-Haney suggests 20 to 100 practice swings per day to feel the rhythm of the lag release.

Use These 2 Swing Thoughts (or chose your own favorite 1 or 2 Swing Thoughts):
1/ Release your club head from the inside and up your target line.
2/ Finish your swing in balance on your leading foot.

Try these approaches and see what works for you. Practice while using your GOLFSTR+ to ensure that you are swinging correctly. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

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I am currently receiving the “Save 1 Stroke Per Hole” series of Golf Tips from Todd Kolb. He also created my US GOLF TV video which was shot at a past PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, FL.  He is a PGA Professional Trainer who really understands the game. I just wanted to share his key tips which are really helping my game to “eliminate those nasty blow-up holes”.

We all know these tips. Pros have caddies to remind them to keep their game in check. Somehow our subconscious egos make us ignore the obvious. Snap out of your crazy rut and follow these rules to break 100, 90 or 80. You can do this by saving a stroke on all of your problem holes.

Keep your Ball in Play: Sort out your big miss and adjust your swing with a lesson or at the driving range before you play a round of golf. You may have to adjust your distance to the ball to avoid hitting off the toe or swing with less speed to avoid slicing the ball but do whatever is needed to keep your shots in the fairway.  First learn to swing like a professional golfer and then adjust for your body’s strengths and weaknesses (because you may not have the perfect timing for every swing).

Get your Ball back in Play: If you end up in the rough, behind a tree or in a sand trap, make the shot that will get your ball in play. Yes you will waste 1 shot but you are avoiding a blow-up hole. [NOTE: mark your score code to identify what caused each blowup hole (T-tree, W-water, S-sand etc) and then plan to eliminate fix the shots that put you in those spots.]

Grab more Club: Don’t expect to hit every shot like the pros. Choose an extra club so that you can swing in control with an 80% swing. Focus on the perfect swing with less power to hit in the right direction.  Swinging at 100% will kill your game as you lose control of many shots.

Know Your Shot Tendencies: If your driver always fades to the right, adjust your aim to the left and let it fad into the center of the fairway.

Know Your Club Yardages: At sea level in humid climates your ball will not travel as far as it does in dry warm air in higher altitudes. Knowing the distance to the hole is a good starting point but distance to clear a trap or a water hazard are even more important. Adjust your selection of clubs according to your situation and know the flight distance and roll distance of each club.

Chip with the Same Club: You should become an expert using 1 club for chipping (to lift over the approach obstacles and roll out on the green). The green elevation changes on every hole but if you use the same club for most chips then you will learn to trust your skill with that club. [A 6 iron to 60 degree wedge will do but I prefer my #4 hybrid as it will clear most obstacles and I eliminate fat chips too.] Your confidence using your favorite chipping club will improve your chances for a 1 putt green.

Walk off Putting Distances: For longer putts, don’t trust your feel for the distance. Walk it off and know what you have to do for a 30 or 40 yard putt over different elevations. Take practice swings with the tempo and backswing that will get your ball to the hole.

Use these TIPS or you can always hire a caddy for $100. Practice for every swing in your game and buy a GOLFSTR+ to swing like a pro. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

I laughed when I saw this title in an article by a PGA Professional Mike Dero, Director of Golf at Quail Creek Country Club in Naples, FL. DON’T LAUGH, a Quiet Eye and a Quiet Mind add up to confident putts. Research by Professor Joan Vickers in 1996 found that a “Quiet” or focused eye can improve the putting performance of highly skilled tour putters and weekend warriors too. It only takes a 2 second look at the target and 2 seconds of focus on your ball.

The longer your eyes can focus on a spot the better your aim and depth perception. There seems to be 2 reasons:
1/ When your eyes move, you head, shoulders and torso can move with them, causing a change in your putting direction.
2/ The Quiet Eye is the prime indicator of a quiet mind. “A quiet mind is not stressed, anxious or jumpy. It is calm and confident and has clarity of purpose – as in your focus to just roll the ball in the hole.”

Focus 2 seconds at the end of your target line to feel the distance and then 2 seconds on a dimple on your ball to calm your mind.

Research has found that we look at up to seven different targets before putting. This active eye confuses and muddles your mind.

To apply this in golf you actually need to focus for 2 seconds on your target point and then back to your ball to focus for 2 seconds on a dimple on the center line near the back of your ball (your point of impact). The more definite and engaged you are on these points, the better the results.

By gazing for 2 seconds on both the target and then your ball, this allows the body enough time to organize the unconscious process to perform a stroke to the target.

You should practice your putting stroke with a flat leading wrist using your GOLFSTR+ as you rock your shoulders (and putter) up the target line. Ideally you should keep your Quiet Eye focused, on the spot where your ball sat, up to a second after impact. Your input for the putt is complete at the instant of impact so there is no need to move your head or your eyes until your ball is well on its way to the hole. Practice with GOLFSTR+ for every swing in your game. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

At the PGA Merchandise Show at the end of January 2017, I watched a PGA Forum with the top trainers in USA. Hank Haney, Jim McLean, David Leadbetter, Michael Breed and Larry Rinker were all on the panel.

I picked up 3 important tips that may help you too.

1/ Stop Fairway Mishits: On important shots, does your fairway club (hybrid, iron or wedge) dig into the ground before the ball or are you topping the ball? Your practice swing may be perfect. Unfortunately that little white ball changes everything. As you tighten up for a more powerful swing at the ball, your mind and body rhythm change. Your hips are locking up and preventing the lateral movement of your body. Your weight is staying over your trailing foot, as you rush your arms through the swing.

Tips from the most influential golf instructors in North America.  These guys know and love this game.  Attention to detail will lower your score.

Pros have a fluid motion where they rotate around the axis of their body and swing through to finish with all of their weight on their leading foot in perfect balance. They also skim the grass (or take a divot) after their club impacts with the ball. [In other words (as Hank Haney describes it) the bottom of their swing arc is after the impact with the ball.]

Jim McLean said that you need to bow your wrist at impact like all of the great pros. If you can’t lead with your body and leading arm to create a bowed leading wrist at impact then you need to set up with a bowed wrist and more weight on your leading foot.

SOLUTION To Create Sold Ball Contact Before You Skim the Grass: Start with 75% of your weight on your leading foot. This also forces you to setup with a bowed wrist and a forward slanted shaft. This will stop you from swaying back in your backswing and will allow you to connect with the ball before you bottom-out the arc of your swing in the grass.

I notice that 2 of my friends who regularly break 80 are consciously doing this to improve their impact with the ball. This has also been a breakthrough for my fairway game.

2/ Swing all of your clubs at the same speed but choke down on your grip to hit a shorter distance with the same club. Don’t swing at half speed or you may create a lazy swing and leave your club face open. When you chock down on your grip you also need to take a practice swing to make sure that you are bending down a little more to reach the ball. Chocking down will reduce your distance by up to 15 yards but if you don’t adjust the bend at your waist to get closer to your ball, you will blade the ball and lose control of your shot.

3/ Michael Breed suggested that you finish every hole as if it is a par 3. Your drive or your fairway shot on a par 5 should put you in position to close the hole as if you are playing a par 3. Choose the right side of the fairway to place your ball in order to simplify your approach shot. Hit the green for a 2 putt par or hit the front of the green for an ease chip and putt.

I hope these tips help with your game as they are helping with mine. Don’t forget to keep practicing with your GOLFSTR+ to help you train with these tips. Some tips will really help your game but you need to try them.  Buy your GOLFSTR+  today at www.golfstr.com

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I was going to call this golf tip, Novice Chipper vs Pro Chipper, but your level of success depends on your state of mind. There really are 2 ways to approach a chip shot and both will get the job done.

First you need to understand that a Chip Shot is completed with any club except a Sand Wedge. Your goal is to lift the ball over the fringe or short rough to let the ball run up to the hole. In general your ball is rolling on the ground over 75% of the distance. [A pitch shot is a totally different shot. It is completed with your Sand Wedge or 60 degree wedge to fly over a bunker or deep rough. A pitch shot needs a full swing and release through the ball to create a reverse spin to stop the ball when it lands.]

Nervous Chip Shot:
If you hit fat chip shots (digging your club into the ground before the ball) or thin chip shots (blading the ball across the green), you are a nervous chipper. If the fairway leading to the green is short cut, you should consider chipping, even when the green is up to 30 yards away.

Great image of a nervous chipper.  Anger does not help the situation.   Thanks for the contribution: www.golfacademy.org

To avoid the yips in chipping, take any wrist action out of your swing. Choose the loft of your club depending on the distance that you want your ball to stay in the air (to avoid a bad bounce on the fairway leading to the green).  Setup as if you are putting. Center the ball between your feet, grip down on your club (to the bottom of the grip) and swing by rocking your shoulders. Take a practice swing to get a feel for the distance you want to hit your ball.

I repeat: DO NOT BEND YOUR WRISTS. DO NOT SWAY BACK IN YOUR BACKSWING.  SWING DIRECTLY UP YOUR TARGET LINE -like putting.

You will be a lot more successful with this technique IF you practice with as selection of clubs to understand the distance that each club will give you in the air and roll on the ground. Test your swing with the same backswing as your follow through for different distances. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to keep your leading wrist flat throughout the swing. I’m suggesting that you work on your proficiency with at least 4 clubs: a 5 iron (or low hybrid), 7 iron, 9 iron and pitching wedge.

Confident Chip Shot
If you are not hitting fat of thin chip shots, then you most likely have a relaxed swing where your body rotates through the shot as your hands swing through the impact with the ball.

Hank Haney recommends the following for the confident golfer: set the ball back in your stance; setup with your hands and shaft leaning forward of the ball; limit your wrist lag in the backswing and limit your follow through with the back of your leading hand still pointing at your target and holding the limited lag of your trailing wrists. Use any club up to a Pitching Wedge depending on the distance that you want to fly and roll your ball.

First determine if you are a Nervous or Confident Chipper. Then practice with GOLFSTR+. Nervous Chippers should practice with a flat leading wrist when you chip. Confident Chippers should train with limited lag on your trailing wrist using your GOLFSTR+. 15 minutes of practice with your new chipping method will make a world of difference. Buy your GOLFSTR+ today: www.golfstr.com

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