Swing Solutions

How many thoughts can you focus on during the time it takes to make the perfect swing? If you don’t clear your mind with the right preparation you will set yourself up for failure. The problem is that no two shot are the same. Your brain has to be confident that you are prepared to hit the right shot with the right swing.

Mental preparation is the best solution for the perfect execution of each unique shot.  Lydia Ko walks through a check list with her caddie before she hits each shot. They plan the goal, determine the conditions and choose the shape of her shot in the preparation for her swing. Subconsciously we all need to go through the same steps to clear our minds and execute each unique 2 second swing.

1/ Before you start your round of golf you need to be in a comfortable state of mind. Slow down your pace and calm your mind. Led Zeppelin is probably not the best music to listen to on your way to the course.

2/ Stretch out your swing muscles and legs and back before you get to the practice tee. Take some moderate swings holding a few irons to get the feel for the whipping action as you release your wrists and move your body into a balance finish.

3/ Hit a variety of shots with different clubs to build confidence that your body has changed modes from sitting and standing and walking to the right swing motion. You need to turn on your “golf switch”.

4/ Sink practice putts from different distances to build confidence in your putting stroke as you swing with sufficient pace to pass the hole by 10 to 18 inches.

Dustin Johnson (BMW Championship and soon to win the FedEx Cup)  has a very fast swing which is not ideal for recreational golfers. He also bows his leading wrist at the top of the backswing (not a good idea for Rec. Golfers).  He swings from the inside to out for amazing results with a consistent swing and consistent swing thoughts.

5/ Before you select your club for each shot decide on a the right spot to land your next shot. Consider the wind, slope of the hitting & landing surface and depth of the turf to build confidence in each shot.

6/ Jason Day prepares for his shot by squinting his eyes to mentally visualize exactly where his ball will travel. He is building the feel for his shot and clearing his mind to focus only on his shot. His memory is only focused on the success of his shot as he takes his stance and relaxes his shoulders and grip.

7/ Sports psychologist Dr. Gio Valiante says, “The best thought is always somehow related to either a specific target, or visualize the shape of a specific shot to put your mind in ‘the zone’. This of course depends on the particular type of brain the individual has. Some people see targets, some people see shapes.”

8/ You have practiced the swing that allows your ball to draw or fade. Keep your mind in the zone by focusing only on the simple key for your swing. It may be tempo or the amount of shoulder rotation or creating wrist lag for a smooth transition. Valiante says: “Generally speaking anything more than two or three thoughts is too much”.

Practice with GOLFSTR+ to learn the correct position in each swing to get your mind in the zone when you take each shot. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

Almost 90% of us are right handed, for some strange reason.  You develop manual dexterity with one hand at a very early age. Your brain controls your skill to putt a ball with better control for direction and distance with your left or right hand. You really need to discover what works best for your physical and mental make-up. It may surprise you to learn that you have better control with your left hand and a right handed golfer.

The pros are learning to test out their skills with both hands to ensure that they are getting the best result with their mind and body. This listing will give you ideas which you should to try out.

1/ Golf Digest suggests that you test your putting skills from different distances by putting 10 balls with one hand and then 10 balls with the other hand. Surprisingly your dominant hand may not be your best putting hand. After 10 putts at various distances you should be able to tell which hand gives you the best results.  Is your leading hand pulling your putter up the target line or is your trailing hand pushing your putter up the target line?

2/ On the other hand, Phil Mickelson (a lefty) is putting with his right hand high and he has changed his trailing left hand to a “claw grip” (to limit the left hand influence). Phil is actually a right handed person but he golfs with left handed golf clubs. He putts with a left handed putter but lets his right hand control his putts for direction and distance.

Rory made a slight tweak by holding the grip with both hand parallel.

3/ Justin Spieth uses a right handed putter (and clubs) but he putts with his left hand low to pull his putter up his target line with the left side (the leading side) of his body.

4/ Rory McIlroy just won the 2nd leg of the final FedEx Cup series. He attributes his new success on his improved putting after switching to Henrik Stenson’s putting coach. “He’s trying to get his right side in better sync with the rest of his body.” He also said that he “moved his right hand more on top of the grip.” (*Both palms are now parallel. ) He is right handed so he now feels like he put his right side in control of his putt. His grip is conventional but I can see that he no longer shifts his body up the target line as he finishes his swing. He swings with locked wrists and rocking his shoulders but his putter now swings in the arc of a pendulum WHICH ROLLS THE BALL INSTEAD OF PUSHES THE BALL.

The left image is conventional.  The right image shows a parallel palm grip which is similar to what Rory is doing. It works a lot better with a fat grip.

5/ Score Golf Magazine ran a report by Liam Mucklow, PGA of Canada Teaching Professional of the Year (The Golf Lab).  He found that “a simple way to reduce face rotation in your putting stroke is to grip the club with your hands turned out so your palms face each other. It might look and feel awkward at first, but doing so greatly reduces the ability of your wrists to rotate, which is what causes the putter head to twist. This simple grip change will help you sink more of those should-make putts.”  [It’s similar to Rory’s new grip.]

6/ Brittany Lang won her first major at the 2016 US Open. She said that she was working on two things with her putting: “staying down and fully committing to every putt.” Reading the putt and committing to the line was her success. She works with Dave Stockton, and he’s big on the left hand (for righties with a traditional grip) being the aim hand. So the left hand is super important to me. I like to hit practice putts left-hand-only, isolating the feeling of the left hand in control. My putting grip is left index finger over right pinkie, which gives me the feeling of the back of my left hand going to the hole. Where the left hand goes is where the ball goes.”

Putting is personal as all of these professionals are choosing their personal path. So sort out your controlling hand and let your mind depend on that hand for direction and distance. No matter what path you take you should practice with GOLFSTR+ TO LOCK YOUR LEADING WRIST. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

We all know that hitting greens in regulation or chipping it close for a 1-putt is the goal for success on every hole. The real difference between a good round and a bad round is sinking more of those 3 to 10 foot putts. We are all searching for ways to be more consistent. Here are some recent tricks that I found to improve our putting.

Learn to “Feel” the Green
Reading the break and putting with enough roll to pass the hole by up to 18 inches is all a matter of feel. Every green is different so you can never practice enough to learn the break for every putt. The length & type of grass, the grain of the grass and the firmness of the surface caused by a recent rolling, top dressing or watering of the green all affect the speed of your putt.

You need to “learn” on the practice green for the course that you are about to play and hope that the practice green has been groomed exactly the same as the 18 greens that you are about to play on. You have to visualize each putt and “feel” the right swing with your practice swing before you execute the putt.

Things You have Little Control Over
As a green dries out and the grass grows during your round, you have no choice but to adapt to the changing conditions. You can’t determine the impact of the last person who walked over your line or the IDIOT who used the end of his putter to boost himself after he removes his ball from the hole OR THE INCONSIDERATE SOB WHO IS DIGGING UP THE GREENS WITH METAL SPIKES. That is why putting is more than a talent. Putting is primarily art and a bit of luck.

Don’t you want the same feeling as Jason Day when you sink any putt at any length.

What You Can Control in your Putts
1/ Putting with the rocking action of your shoulders will take the smaller muscles in your arms and wrists out of your putt. This will minimize any shaking of your club during your stroke. Practice locking your wrists using your GOLFSTR+ and seeing your success.
2/ Choose a target point and putt directly at that target is the only thing that YOU CAN CONTROL in your putt.
3/ Your practice swing should be exactly the same swing as your actual putt as that is the only way you can “feel” the right DISTANCE.
4/ You need to deliberately swing with your shoulders and swing your putter like a pendulum up your target line at the point of impact or you will slice or draw your ball.  Jason Day finishes swinging his putter up his target line in a pendulum arc and you should too.
5/ At least reach the hole with your putt. 100% of putts that don’t reach the hole never go in!
6/ Putt with enough speed to pass the hole by up to 18 inches so that the speed will minimize any misdirection caused by the last person to step on your line or the person who created the cup placement with a slight rise around the edge of the hole.
7/ After you learn to hit every putt 10 to 18 inches past the cup make sure that you plan for less break as most of the break will happen if your ball passes the cup.

[Note: Impact with the ball only lasts for a fraction of a second so your total focus should be on looking down at the SQUARE HIT IN THE CENTER OF YOUR PUTTER FACE as well as duplicating your practice swing for DISTANCE. This tip came from a 75 year old golfer who sinks about 8 out of every 10 putts between 6 and 15 feet.]

Our Swing Tips next week will focus on ways to identify how YOUR mind and body is most effective to make YOUR putts. In the meantime practice with GOLFSTR+ for flat wrist putting by rocking your shoulder. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

Do you wonder why you have good golf days and bad golf days. Exactly the same happened to the Olympians on the golf course in Rio.  Patience and mental control to manage your game are probably the 2 keys that we can all learn by watching the Olympic Golf Champions.  Justin Rose was a great example to watch but we (recreational golfers) can learn far more from the women golfers.

Recreational golfers dream about playing like the professional male golfers. Unfortunately it only revs up our testosterone with images of going for the gusto. Whether you know it or not, those thoughts are destroying your game. Every time we hit a great shot we tend to put a little more into the next shot and end up in the bush or water or sculling it 20 yards.

Olympic Golf Medal were won by controlled emotion, avoiding the hazards and amazing chips.

Knock yourself down a few pegs and get real. I hate to say this but we should all play like the women. This sure sounds like a sexist remark but I’m serious. Control your shots, avoid the hazards and chip to the cup.

Imbee Park (Gold Medal winner) is not a long driver. She also had to lay off her practice time and tournament play prior to the Olympics to allow time for recovery from her wrist injury. The truck accident law firm in Augusta called it a necessary demand. Limiting her practice and mentally focusing on the Olympic course allowed her cautiously win over the 4 days of tournament play. She had 3

Maria Verchenova, a Russian golfer got a lot of attention and her golf was great too.

rounds of 66 and a 70 on a windy day.  Her steady play was nothing like the spectacular single rounds by Stacey Lewis, 18 year old Brooke Henderson or the Russian, Maria Verchenova who shot a course record at 9 under par.

– Imbee has a pause at the top of her backswing and never rushes her swing.
– She rarely showed any emotion on a good or a poor shot.
– Her amazing chipping was often followed with a single putt.

Lydia Ko (Silver Medal winner) is a lot like Imbee. She is not a long ball hitter and she did not get upset when she had a poor hole. By focusing on her game she knew that she would start to sink putt.  She had a hole-in-one (the first in her professional career) which was icing on the cake for her final round.

Shanshan Feng (Bronze Medal winner) had many difficult recovery chips where she missed dropping the chip by a fraction of an inch. With a little more luck she would have placed higher. Her ability to visualize her chips and end up inches from the hole during her final round was amazing.

I want to emphasize that Recreational Golfers should play from the tees where you can reach the green in regulation. The course was set for the women at 6,245 yards (the men played at 7,128 yards). Accept the fact that you are a recreational player with limited time to practice. So play like the women professionals: Control your emotions to control your shots, avoid the hazards and chip to the cup

Play like these women. Inbee, Lydia and Shanshan all have this amazing focus as they “ took dead aim” on each shot. Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Jason Day all talk about this focus and visualization to hit their target. Harvey Penick (a famous golf instructor) was quoted by Golf-Info-Guide (Thomas Golf) as saying “take dead aim.  Once you address the ball, hitting it to the desired target must be the only thing in your life. Allow no negative thoughts and focus on your goal”

I hope you enjoyed this advice and will use it whenever you play golf.  Practice with GOLFSTR+ to improve every swing in your game. Pattern your swing after the pros and make sure that you spend 50% of your practice time pitching, chipping and putting with GOLFSTR+.   Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

Since 2011, according to the National Golf Foundation, the number of US golfers has only dropped an average of 1.6 % per year. That’s a lot less than the 2.2% drop per year between 2003 and 2011. Golf is still a thriving industry for those of us who love the opportunity to challenge ourselves while we exercise our minds and bodies in an amazing environment.

Recent Headline News
–Adidas is trying to divest itself of its golf holdings (TaylorMade who bought Adams for $70 Mil.)
–Nike has decided to stop selling golf clubs and balls so that they can focus on all sports apparel.
-The Edwin Watts golf stores was sold to World Wide Golf Stores.
–Dick’s Sporting Goods recently eliminated golf pros from their 550 stores.
–Golf Town bought Golfsmith and now they are looking for a buyer or planning to restructure.
–Glen Abbey Golf Club, Home of the Canadian Open, plans to sell to a housing developer in 2017

What a beautiful way to end a day. Make sure you pose and admire every wonderful shot.

The Good News!
– There are still about 34,000 golf courses in the world and almost half of them are in USA.
– As fewer young golfers take up this sport the cost of golf is dropping.
– There are more great deals to enjoy by selecting tee times on www.GolfNow.com & www.UnderPar.com
– Private and Public Golf Clubs are offering wonderful deals to attract you to their courses.
– Golf will be confirmed as an Olympic Sport as a result of its success this year. The viewing audience almost equaled the Masters.
– Jack Nicklaus said that golf balls are now designed to hit much further so keep buying new balls.
– Tiger (40) will be back next year to keep Jason (28), Dustin (32), Henrik (40) Jordan (23), Rory (27) Rickie (27) and Bubba (37) on their toes.
– But look at the ages of the leaders in the LPGA: Lydia Ko (19), Ariya Jutanugarn (20) and Brooke Henderson (18), 5’4” with a driving average of 268 yards.

If you have discovered the challenge of golf as an excellent way to bond with friends in the great outdoors, HAVE WE GOT NEWS FOR YOU.

You can sink exactly the same number of putts as the pros with any shape of putter whether it cost $40 or $400. Practice because it’s all in your head and putting swing.

Putting almost counts for half the strokes in your game so spend more time practicing your putting and use GOLFSTR+ to learn to putt with a flat wrist.

Enjoy your game by playing from the tees where you can hit the green in regulation.

Stay on the short stuff.  If you need to hit 4 shots with a 7 iron and then 1 putt for you par: Just do it!

Golf is a challenging sport and you know the emotion that it stirs when you split a fairway with a perfect drive. Remember to hold that finishing pose and enjoy the moment.  Seize the Day!

If you want to bring more joy back to your game and hit more of those perfect drives, hit more greens in regulation and chip close for more 1 putt greens you should start practicing with GOLFSTR+.

It gives your 6 Swing Fixes in 1 Training Aid. You can wear it while you play 18 holes as a reminder to keep your leading arm straight in your backswing and downswing through impact. Best of all it slides in your pocket or golf bag. We call it the Pocket Pro. She’s there whenever you warm up for your next round.

Unfortunately you can’t use GOLFSTR+  when you are playing any competitive rounds of golf.  It gives you an unfair advantage.  Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

When we launched our GOLFSTR+ website to promote our 6-in-1 Golf Swing Training Aid, it was the start of our journey to help golfers consistently break 80.  We quickly understood that the discovery of GOLFSTR+ was a great start to learn the correct swing with every club but there is so much more to this game. We wanted to find and share the Holy Grail of Golf : the magic moves and thoughts to hit every shot perfectly. We had to unlock these mysteries!

Our solution was to launch Weekly Swing Tips which we learned from pros or from Swing Tip Subscribers to help every recreational golfer discover easy ways to lower scores.  As we wrote the first 199 issues of these tips we have learned that mental control is just as important as physical control for each club in your bag.

Flexibility and Exercise
-Aging bodies needs daily flexibility exercise, especial before you play a round of golf. Just do it!

Consistency and Control
-Thank you Ben Hogan: “The most important swing in golf is your next one.”
– Keep your leading arm straight in the backswing and downswing for consistent hits. (consistent distance to the ball from setup to impact is critical for your success)
-Use a Soft Grip with your trailing hand to avoid distortion in the direction of your swing and it automatically helps you lag your wrist for more power.
-Use a limited takeaway waggle to see that you are keeping your wrist flat in your backswing.
-Remove all mental distractions and slow down your transition by mentally saying, “Sweep in, and up”
-Swing from the inside to up the target line with a balanced finish, facing the target.

Distance
-Set your ball up on your tee with the logo pointing at 45 degrees to your target line as a reminder to swing from the inside and impact the ball on the inside quadrant. (to avoid swinging over the top)
– Your backswing is a ROTATION of your hips, shoulders, arms and wrists. DO NOT SWAY BACK.
-Soft grip with your trailing hand will help you lag your club in the backswing for more power
– During your “slow” transition, let the momentum of your backswing “bump” your hip up the target line.
-Hold your wrist lag as you pull the butt of your club down to start your downswing
– Release your wrists through impact with a whipping action. Practice your swing to hear the whooosh.

GOLFSTR+ is 6 swing training aids in 1 product. Practice daily to learn to swing with a straight leading arm and flat wrist for your full swing, chipping and putting. Also a great lag trainer.

Sand Traps
-Open your stance and open the face of your Sand Wedge as you swing with hip and shoulder rotation back and up your target line. Take an inch of sand before the ball as well as the imaginary quarter resting in the sand AFTER THE BALL. Complete your full swing turning your chest to face the target.

Putting
-Understand the break, rise or drop and the distance when standing below the hole or line of the putt.
-Make practice swings to “feel” the swing of your backswing to ensure that you can pass the hole by a foot.
-Control the swing of your putter up your target line with your leading hand. Never slice a putt.

Practice
-Practice with each of your clubs at each of the points of the clock in your backswing for pitching and chipping.  Learn the distance in the air and roll-out for one putt.
-Avoid fat and thin chip shots up to 30 yards with any club by centering the ball in your stance (the low point of the arc). Swing with a straight leading arm and flat wrist back and forward in an arc like a long putting swing with a backswing equal in the length to the follow through.

Buy GOLFSTR+ today for 6 swing fixes at www.golfstr.com

Did you know that your dominant hand may be the key to the future success of your game? Do you ever wonder why one drive is so amazing and the next one is a duck hook. This strange occurrence and the fact that many golf professionals are trying new putting grip techniques are telling us that a dominant hand grip may have more to do with our swing than we ever thought possible.

Just to add confusion to this theory: Are you aware that Phil Michelson, Mike Weir and Bob Charles are naturally right handed but they golf with left handed clubs. There are also many golfers (including myself) who are naturally left handed and golf with right handed clubs. In my case it was not by choice as we only had right handed clubs in the attic and if I wanted to play I had to figure out how to swing those right handed clubs.

Seeing Phil Michelson (a dominant right handed person) putting with his right hand high and using a claw grip with his left hand low got me thinking about the effect of a dominant left handed person and a dominant right handed person on their swing.

Consider These Facts:
1/ One side of our body is stronger with more co-ordination than the other side as a result of our greater use of our dominant side.
2/ We swing a golf club across our body from one side to the other. One arm is pulling and one arm is pushing. These are very different motions for the brain to manage.
3/ Most people are dominant right or left handed. Our brains are also wired differently for the right or left side. [We don’t know why this happens but it does happen.]
4/ If the power in both of our arms is NOT equal then one arm may be over powering your swing and destroying the consistency of our golf swing.

Ben Hogan practiced with a loose right hand to avoid overpowering his swing and to create lag in his downswing.

One of our GOLFSTR Swing Tip Subscribers, Scott Mohn (North Carolina) saw my recent Tip about swinging with a loose right hand. He also confirmed that he had been doing the same thing to reduce the influence of the right hand before impact.

He said: “I often follow Ben Hogan’s suggestion of using just the two middle fingers of the right hand to hold the club while practicing. He thought the muscles related to the other fingers of the right hand cause most of the problems for people with over active right sides, hands, and arms. The softer the right hand is for most people, the more lag is created, automatically, without consciously trying to increase it.”

Breakthrough Opportunity to Improve Your Swing:
1/ For your every club in your bag (full swing and putter), you should be testing your golf swing with a loose grip for your trailing hand.
2/ Your straight leading arm, wrist lag and whipping action is the reason why a scrawny 12 year old can hit further than most adults. Allow your leading hand to control your swing.
3/ Your leading hand grip must be in your fingers (not up your palm), to allow the whipping action of your club as you release through impact.

Practice with GOLFSTR+  for a straight leading arm in your backswing and downswing. You will find that a loose trailing hand will easily create lag and whipping action through impact for longer and more consistent hits. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

When we watch Dustin Johnson hammer a driver 300 yards up the center of a fairway, we imagine how we can make the same shot. It’s a great feeling when you dream about it but you better get back to reality before your next swing or your ball will be headed into Never Never Land.  Learn to ‘tune your game back and make the easy shots within your ability’.

If you spend most days working at a desk or anywhere but swinging a golf club, you need to be realistic before your next adventure on the golf course. “You are You”, not Dustin Johnson or Jason Day. Their game and your game are in 2 different leagues. Body shape, strength, stamina, training and mindset are all different from yours.

You need to set realistic expectation for the swing of each club. Keep your expectations in check and minimize your check points to make more consistent swings. Try these tests:

Takeaway Test:  Try a takeaway waggle like Rickie Fowler. Watch for 2 things.
1/ Flat wrist: With a straight leading arm and a wide takeaway, keep your wrist flat and in-line with your arm as you break your wrist sideways and point your club head away from the ground. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to ensure that your wrist is flat.
2/ Rotate, Don’t Shift: In your backswing make sure that you are rotating your shoulders and hips to coil your body (as you load pressure on your trailing foot). DO NOT swaying back in your stance for more power like a baseball player (golf is not baseball)

Rory has a perfect flat wrist position as he lets momentum shift his hips slightly up his target line. He lets his club do the work to whip through impact with his ball.  He also finishes in balance on every shot.

Balance Test
In a recent PGA video by PGA Professional Eric Hogge, he offered a tip to help you understand how hard you should swing each club and still hold a balanced finish. He completed a drill called “2 Tees and a Ball”. He placed 2 tees and a ball on a third tee all in a line so that he could hit them in succession. His first swing was at 50% to hit the first tee, then 60% to hit the second tee and finally at 70% to hit the ball. If he was able to hold a balanced finish for 2 seconds, he knew that he was in control. This is great test to understand the speed that is realistic for your swing. DON’T swing as hard as you can.

Body Test
Marin Hall, a trainer on the Golf Channel, reminds us to get our bodies “into the swing”. Don’t just use your arms and fall back when you swing. Don’t rush your swing at the top. As your club reaches the top of your backswing let the momentum of your backswing start the slide of your hips forward as you drop your hands and feel the whip of your club releasing from a wrist lag to impact with your ball.

To clarify: Don’t muscle your club through the swing. Keep your leading arm straight through out the backswing and downswing and feel the whipping action of your club as it releases through impact. Let the weight of your club create the power of your swing.

Adjust your stance and straight arm swing to ensure that you are impacting with your ball in the center of your club face.

Impact Test
Use a powder marker or Dr. Scholl’s spray powder to mark the face of your driver and your irons and figure out where you impact the ball. Adjust your stance and accept the fact that the head of your club may not line up with your ball at address the same way that it does during the swing. (As an amateur golfer, your body will do bewildering changes during your swing.  Make adjustments or you will suffer with poor shots.)

Summary

You should be swinging with a straight leading arm and a flat leading wrist. If you don’t learn to do this you will never be able to create a consistent distance to the ball for consistent hits. Practice with GOLFSTR+ for straight arm and straight wrist and lag training. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

Martin Chuck has been releasing blogs with a series of drills to generate lag and whipping action for more power and distance. I love his recommendations as they fit with the exact solution that I developed for my aging body. If your spine rotation limits your backswing, you are not alone. You need a solution to create lag without coming over the top and slicing the ball.

There are only 3 steps that you need to focus on to improve your ability to generate more lag for more power and distance.

Step 1: Light Grip with your Trailing Hand
Martin Chuck showed a drill where he grips his club normally with his leading hand and places his trailing hand with fingers open and flat against the trailing side of the club. He recommends making some light swings where your leading wrist rotates your club shaft to 90 degrees in your back-swing  (and your trailing open hand just rests on the side of the club).

By doing this you will feel a whipping action as you release your leading wrist at the bottom of your swing. Your club head  accelerates at about 4 times the speed of your arm rotation. The whipping action and extra club head speed is generated from your leading wrist release. Your trailing hand is just moving along for the ride.

NOTE: Use a very light grip with your trailing hand to help you create a 90 degree lag with your leading wrist. Generate all of your power and direction control with your leading hand and wrist release.

You don’t need this full rotation to generate power. However you need to lag your leading wrist and release it at the bottom of your swing for power.

Step 2: Chest rotation and Straight Arm Back Swing
Adam Scott has the perfect example swing. He starts his swing with a wide takeaway. He straightens his leading arm as he rotates his hips 45 degrees and then his shoulders by another 45 degrees from the line across his toes. Hold a club across your chest to check your total shoulder rotation. For many of us the rotation is much less than 90 degrees. Stretching and exercise in moderation will help with this rotation but you should accept your limitation to avoid back injury and depend on a 90 degree wrist rotation for lag. Experts from https://renegadewls.com/ can be contacted to get legal help for injury cases.

Step 3: Lower Your Swing Plane to Avoid Over the Top Hits
When Sergio Garcia swings, he creates an optical illusion, which looks like his club shaft lag is even greater 90 degrees from his leading arm. In reality, Martin Chuck showed that he is just dipping his club down to a lower plane in his backswing (by tucking his trailing elbow closer to his side). Lydia Ko, the 19 year old who is #1 Ranked in the World does a similar reroute in her swing. Jim Furyk also does a crazy version of a very high backswing and looping down to swing from the inside. Jim McLean, Golf School at Trump Doral GC, also instructs with a swing which loops down in the backswing.

In all of these cases the golfers are just adjusting their swing plane to route from the “inside to out” and up their target line. This creates a wonderful draw and more distance.

Summary
Aging bodies with limited spine rotation need to generate power with a limited back-swing and a straight leading arm for consistent powerful hits. A very light grip with my trailing hand helps you create a 90 degree wrist lag with my leading wrist. You will generate a lot more power and a swooshing noise when the club whips through impact with the ball. If you are not hearing the swoosh, you are gripping too tightly as you whip through the bottom of your swing. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to keep a straight leading arm in your back-swing to avoid fat and thin hits. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

Have you noticed that the commentators during the US Open, THE OPEN and many of the recent televised tournaments are talking about pros changing their putters and the way they grip their putters? If these great players are looking for the perfect solution to their putting as well as their swing, shouldn’t you be experimenting too?

It seems that Rory, Phil and Jason are changing putters or the style of their grip every other week. Phil Michelson is now using a claw grip with his trailing hand (which seems to guide his putter). Jason Day is very conventional with left hand high. Jordon Spieth always putts with left hand low and Rory McIlroy is flipping hands every other week. Brandt Snedeker slaps at the ball and Brooke Henderson holds her putter with 2 parallel hands as if she is in prayer (which seems to work best on Sundays).

Let’s get back to basics so that you can decide what works best for you.  Almost half of your strokes during every round of golf are putts.  More than 2 putts per hole is a big problem.  What do we know for sure?
1/ Avoid Side Spin:  Your swing must NOT be sliding across the ball or it will spin left or right. (That’s how Brittany Lang missed a 4 foot putt on the 17th to force a playoff in the LPGA Open.)

2/ Avoid Bouncing Your Ball: Hitting down will make the ball underspin, skid and bounce. Phil Michelson was famous for his forward handle lean but he recently dropped it.

3/ Get the Ball Rolling: Set the ball slightly forward of center in your stance to ensure that you hit it slightly on the upswing of your club for a clean start to the roll.

Phil Mickelson dropped his forward shaft lean and now putts by swinging with his leading hand.  His claw grip with his trailing hand is only a guide to steady his grip.  I find it easier to just let the putter go at the point of impact as my leading hand swings directly up the target line.  It’s a great way to eliminate slicing your putts.

4/ Impact Time on the Ball is a Split Second: To increase your odds of a square impact your swing and square of your putter must be moving up your target line at the point of impact.

5/ Eliminate Nervous Shaking Hands during Your Swing: Take the small muscles in your hands and arms out of your putt.  Putt using the rock of your shoulders straight through impact without bending your wrists. (Practice with GOLFSTR+ to prevent any bend in your leading wrist.)

6/ Understand the Breaks on the Green: Stand in the low point of the green in the area where you are putting to decide on the direction of your putt and the amount of break. Move to the LOW POINT of your target line to appreciate the rise or drop or tilt of your putt. (Depth is more difficult to perceive when standing above the hole on a downhill putt so don’t let it change your mind.)

7/ Choose an Aiming Point: Use a line on your ball to line up with a target point about 3 feet in front of your ball.

8/ Duplicate Your Practice Swing: Complete a practice swing with the EXACT SAME SWING tempo and length that you plan to use when you make your putt .

9/ Plan Your Putt to travel 10 to 20 Inches Past the Hole: Plan for less break at the hole as  speed minimizes the break and distortions of the green at the edge of the hole.  PET PEEVE: Pros and many golfers lean on their putter and indent the putting surface as they bend down to retrieve their ball from the hole.  DON’T DO IT AS YOU ARE MESSING UP THE NEXT PERSON’S PUTT.

Final Thoughts:  Exaggerate your swing  up your target line to ensure that you are hitting a straight putt. Even Scotty Cameron is demonstrating his new $400 putters with Fat Grips (to help with soft hands) and a flat front surface (to help you square the club with your thumbs). Practice with GOLFSTR+ to learn to lock your leading wrist during your putting stroke. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com