Swing Solutions

Do you ever wonder how a 5 foot 5 inch tall, Lydia Ko at the age of 17 can hit a longer drive than your best effort? It sure is not strength or height or arm length.  With her small frame, she has earned over a Million $$$ this year with an average driving distance of 250 yards and 78% of her drives land in the fairway.  What’s holding you back.

I received a wonderful summary from Golf-Info-Guide.com (by Thomas Golf) providing a simple way to generate more club head speed and distance. Practice the following in slow motion to get the feel for the release of POWER at the bottom of your swing as you connect with the ball.

Create the POWER . . . Store the POWER . . . Release the POWER

Rory’s game is on fire winning The Open and WGC Bridgestone with amazing lag and power.

Create the POWER: Train with GOLFSTR+ to learn your straight arm backswing. At the same time you need to cock your wrists to hold your club at a 90 degree bend from your straight arm. This is called LAG.

Store the POWER: You need to hold the LAG in your 90 degree wrist bend until your arms swing down to horizontal (to the point where your thumbs are pointing up to the sky). If you release your wrists at the start of your down swing, you will just waste the POWER.

Release the POWER: Let your wrists whip the club head through impact with the ball. All of the power comes when your hands are moving 2 feet (at 25 miles/hour) and your club head is moving about 8 feet (at 100 miles/hour). The more you can relax your wrist muscles the faster you can snap the club through the ball.

Understand this POWER in slow motion and then practice the whipping action at full speed. Get this right and you can add 50 yards to your drives.

I love to reference Golf-Info-Guide.com (by Thomas Golf) because they included a reference to GOLFSTR+ as a golf training aid to help you learn The Right Way to Keep the Left Arm Straight

In addition to GOLF-Info-Guide.com,  golf celebrities and golf professionals have called us to praise GOLFSTR+ as a wonderful golf training aid. We hope to share these endorsements with you someday soon. In the meantime please check out our user endorsements by clicking GOLFSTR TESTIMONIAL PAGE.

Recent Testimonial:  One of our golfing Friends from Florida sent us this note which she received from Diane (her friend):  “I had a really bad day of golf on Thursday so when Bruce and I golfed yesterday I wore the GOLFSTR training aid that you gave me and Boy! Did it ever work! After my game, I showed my friend and she plans to order one too.”

Please tell your friends about GOLFSTR+

No other part of your golf swing is more important than your confident mind.  Be confident that you have: done the shot before, practiced the shot, know the distance, know the impact of wind & humidity on your ball flight.

If you have any doubt, change to another club. Club-up and hit it with less power and a more controlled swing. Just get the doubt out and focus on the shot. Tiger calls it “Getting in the zone”. At a Hoylake interview before The Open Championship he used the words calm, “really feel at peace” and confident. They all described the state of mind where he wanted to be.

If you have confidence in your swing you can focus on the key components of your swing: straight leading arm, chest rotation, swinging rhythmically from inside your target line to outside and finish in balance. [Michael Breed on The Golf FIX/ Golf Channel said that 85% of golfers slice the ball. Use these points to solve this problem.]

Height and Strength are Excuses!
The average height of the 13 sub-par players after 3 rounds of the 2014 Women’s British Open was 5 feet 5 inches. [Stacey Lewis is 5’ 5”, Inbee Park is 5’ 6”, Mo Martin is 5’3 “] They played the Royal Birkshire at 6,458 yards, par 72. Brian Harmon won the John Deere Classic weighing in at 155 pound and 5’7”. Never blame lack of height and strength on your high scores. Brute force is NOT the answer. To hit it farther, “swing more rhythmically” (Global Golf Post, July 12, 2014). Swing with a smooth rhythm with an accelerating wrist release through the ball to a balanced finish. Controlling the flight and staying in the fairway helped Mo Martin win the British Open even though she was typically 60 yards behind the longest hitters. Distance and direction control are the keys to your success.

Hit through the ball with your driver and let the loft cause your SPIN RATE.

Understand SPIN RATE for more distance:
Spin Rate is spinning the ball in the opposite direction from Top Spin so you should NOT be trying to hit up-on-the-ball to cause over spin as it will cause the ball to dive down into the ground. Spin rate has a major influence on the height and distance of a shot especially in windy conditions. More loft on your club head generally increases spin rate. All things being equal, more club speed will also increase spin rate. For distance with your driver you want to hit level through the ball and let the loft of your club generate your SPIN RATE.

The average spin rate for a PGA Tour player is 2687 rpm and the average for an amateur golfer is 3275 rpm. Why not experiment? Hit up on the ball, through the ball and down on the ball to see the immediate impact for distance with your Driver.

Buy a GOLFSTR+ to improve every swing in your game today. It helps you develop the right swing to build confidence and consistency. Buy one on line, CLICK: GOLFSTR.

Last week we showed you that Tiger is taking steps to limit his rotation in his backswing to save his back. So I bet you are wondering how you and Tiger are going to get reasonable distance out of every drive with less backswing rotation (the way Steve Stricker does). Some of you have purchased a GOLFSTR+ to train for a straight arm in the backswing. Of course Tiger has a great straight arm swing (so he may not have purchased his GOLFSTR yet). You may not hit as far as Tiger but your distance and consistency will improve.

How Does Tiger Get Distance in His Drives?
Tiger has a wide straight arm backswing with a 90++ degree wrist lag. Sean Foley has him limiting his backswing to save his back but his arm and wrist strength still give his great distance in his drives. His wrist release at the bottom of his swing is where all of his power comes from.

Tom Watson lifts his leading heel to help him get more rotation and power just like a baseball player lifts his heel for more power.

2014 US Ryder Cup Captain Tom Watson Has a Trick!

He admits that his back is not as loose as it once was. He was also finding that his limited rotation was limiting his distance until he found this trick. To get more rotation he lifts the heel of his leading foot in the backswing. This gives him the extra back swing rotation and more power when he shifts forward with more power through his swing. [Moe Norman and Ben Hogan both had a slight heel lift on the leading foot in their backswing.]

One of the 6 uses of GOLFSTR+ is to remind you to keep your leading arm straight while you practice and while you play 18 holes. When you feel the curved plastic end lifting off the back of your arm you should limit your backswing at that point. You may also want to let your leading heel lift slightly to give you a little more rotation in the backswing. I often say that this is not baseball but baseball players all lift their leading foot and step into the ball. Why not try a modified version of this for more power in YOUR golf swing.

One last tip is that you should learn to stretch you leading arm using the exercise in this video. It really is one of the best video’s that I have seen on the straight leading arm swing from Thomas Golf and their Golf-Info-Guide.com : The Right Way to keep your Left Arm Straight

Check out GOLFSTR+ and use these Swing Tips to get more distance out of your drives.

We should all learn from Tiger’s post-surgery swing if we want to help our backs survive golf for the long term. Limiting your backswing with a straight leading arm is so important for Tiger’s consistent hits. Of course his game was a little rusty at the Quicken Loan National Tournament where he missed the cut by 4 strokes. The good thing that was noticed is his swing change to make sure that he is in this game for the long haul.  With a new girl on his arm and a newly fortified backbone, he is again ready to challenge Jack Nicklaus for the most majors won.

Matthew Rudy gave us some insights about Tiger’s swing in a Golf Digest article. “ Woods’ swing has changed noticeably from its pre-surgery form. How much of it is a part of larger rebuild with teacher Sean Foley vs. early caution is still an open question.”

Overall he is depending less on the torque of his spine and more on his lag and wrist release for power through the ball.

1/ Similar to Justin Rose and Michelle Wie, Tiger is limiting his backswing. He no longer swings his club back to horizontal and depends on more wrist lag and wrist release though impact.
2/ “He has a stronger grip.” So his leading hand is rotated back on his grip so the V line from his left hand is pointing more to the outside of his right shoulder.
3/ His takeaway is wider but his release and power still comes from dropping his leading shoulder in his downswing and swinging from the inside. All of the pros do this and you should too.

Next week the swing tip is from the 2014 Ryder Cup Captain, Tom Watson with his aging back solution to get more rotation in your swing for longer drives without destroying your back. Training with GOLFSTR+ to keep your leading arm straight is only half of the equation for consistent longer hits. Aging golfers need all the help you can get to keep those scores down. Check out all the Swing Fixes by training with GOLFSTR+. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE 6 SWING FIXES.

For the last 2 weeks we have been summarizing the success that Martin Kaymer and Michelle Wie had in the US Open with their putting.  This week I have collected facts to duplicate their putting success.  Every green has a different surface and speed based on the contour and the condition of the grass surface.  Only you can get a feel for the speed of the greens as they will change based on the moisture, grass height and rolling speed of the green.  Putting can be up to 50% of your strokes in a round of golf so you really should pay attention to these tips.

PUTT WITH CONFIDENCE:   
A good putt consists of 3 components: learn a smooth swing, commit to the right line and swing for the right distance.  Adam Scott, the world’s #1 golfer, is using a new planning system to estimate the slope of the green and deciding on his target line.  By choosing the severity of the slope he is committing to a plan for the break that he is expecting.  He is setting a plan and committing to the plan.  He must be on the right track so why not set a plan for each of your putts to swing with commitment and confidence.

Golf Digest used this image of Tiger Woods to show that he putts with his shoulders and spine. His wrists are locked and he swings directly up the target line.

Develop a Smooth and Confident Swing:
1/STOP using the small muscles in your arms and wrists to putt.  Your small muscles tighten and cause the shaking motion (the YIPPS) in your swing.  To solve this problem, the professionals lock their wrists and putt by rocking their spine and shoulders.
2/ Avoid the death grip on your putter as your shoulders and spine must be relaxed.  Your grip still needs to be firm to lock your putter in your hands.
3/ Shorter putts should always be straight back and straight up the line of your intended target point.  Longer putts will require more backswing so you may find yourself rotating around your body from the inside but you need to finish straight up your intended target line.

Commit to a line.  
1/ Commitment is the first step to confidence.  Use a line on your ball to line up with your target line.  It just helps your mind confirm that you have committed to a line.
2/ MINIMIZE the Break by Sinking the Putt before your ball slows down:  70% to 90% of the break occurs as your ball slows down in the last 10% of the distance rolled.  How often have you seen Tiger’s ball drop firmly into the hole (without the final curl on his putt)?  Eliminate most of the break by planning to hit 12 to 18 inches past the hole.  NOTE: Wear and tear near the hole from hole insertion, club damage when pressed on the green and careless ball removal distort the roll of your ball.  Reasonable ball speed is the only way to minimize the impact of these unforeseen problems.
3/ Uphill putts break a lot less because you need more speed to get your ball up the hill so you should take a more direct line for uphill putts.

Practice for the Right Distance
1/  Before you play a round of golf make sure that you get a feel for the speed of the greens by using the practice green.  They change every day based on many factors.
2/  After you choose your line, take 2 or 3 practice swings with the exact stroke and cadence that you need to hit the ball 12 inches past the hole.  Step up to the ball, check your line and duplicate your practice swing.

Increase your odds of sinking more putts by developing a smooth “up the line” swing, practice your putting and pay attention to your misses.  GOLFSTR+  is an excellent training aid to develop your confidence by locking your wrists during the putting stroke.  Practice with GOLFSTR+  For Every Swing in Your Game: Click here to check out all of the uses for GOLFSTR+.

Michelle Wei won the Women’s US Open.  Just like Martin Kaymer, her putting was amazing.  She used superior putting all week for the two-shot victory, with no three-putt greens over 72 holes – including 25 one-putt holes.  She may have a crazy stance with her torso horizontal to the ground but her consistent swing up the line made all the difference.  We need to learn from her success.

Why is she sinking putts?  After she lines up her putt she has total confidence that she has the right line so that she can focus on distance and impact down the line.  CONFIDENCE sinks the putts. [More on Lineup and Confidence Next week.]

Michelle’s Horizontal torso is a real killer on the back but her putts are fantastic.

1/  She swings like a pendulum:  Straight back and straight down the line.
2/  She chooses her target line and takes practice swings for speed:  If she gets this right, she sinks the putt.
3/  She avoids any side spin on her putts:  Hitting straight down the line, with her ball slightly forward of the center of her stance, puts a straight top spin roll on her putts.

She follows through straight down her intended putting line.

4/  She avoid the YIPPS.  She has ZERO wrist motion: All of her swing comes from the rotation of her spine and shoulders like a pendulum swinging from an axis point.  By eliminating wrist motion she avoids using the small muscles in her arms which cause you to shake in your back swing.  [Practice with GOLFSTR+ to lock your wrists and gain confidence in your putting.]

5/  She had the lie angle on her putter flattened slightly.  You don’t need to change your putt head to shaft angle but you do have to adjust your grip and stance to ensure that your putter head is horizontal to the ground.  And make sure that you impact the ball directly in the center (which should be the balance point) of your putter.

Should you try to duplicate her body position?
Not if you plan to golf for the next 20 or more years.  Your back will never hold out if you tried to putt with a 90 degree bend at the waist.  No other male or female on tour is trying to putt this way.  She is built like a rake and 6 foot 1 inch tall so this will compound her back problems in the future.  Mark my word, within 5 years you will see her change her horizontal body position when her back tells her to make the change.

You can duplicate all of Michelle Wie’s putting characteristics without putting your head directly over the ball.  Make sure that you build confidence with your putting stroke by wearing GOLFSTR+ to lock your wrist so that you have to swing with your spine and shoulders.  GOLFSTR+ helps you get the YIPPs out of your putting stroke (both back and through the ball).

NEXT WEEK Watch for BUILD CONFIDENCE IN YOUR PUTTING by getting a better read AND A BETTER PLAN before your step up to your ball.  And don’t forget to Click Here to CHECK OUT WWW.GOLFSTR.COM For Every Swing in YOUR Game.

If you were watching the final round of the US Open you would have seen a clip showing Martin Kaymer practicing his takeaway with a Tennis Ball.  He just used it as a reminder to keep his arms close together and straight at the start of his swing.  It forces his chest to rotate with his arms.  Mike Weir and Michelle Wie do this same motion as a takeaway waggle before they swing.

There are 2 points that I want you to learn from Martin’s practice technique where he gently held a tennis ball between his forearms:

1/ He was using a Training Aid prior to the start of the final round of the US Open, which he won.  This is a serious golfer who was looking forward to winning almost $1.8 million in prize money and unlimited endorsement money.  If a basic training aid works as just a reminder for the Winner of the US Open shouldn’t your consider a training aid to help with every swing in your game?

This shot shows Martin Kaymer practicing with a yellow tennis ball hanging from his neck on the final day of the US Open. It REMINDS him to rotate his chest in the back swing.

2/ His training aid was a device that allowed him to swing a proper and complete swing.  It was only intended to remind him to keep his arms parallel at the start of the backswing.  By doing this he was forcing his spine to rotate and to turn his chest.   The tennis ball actually drops from his arms before he reached the horizontal with his leading arm.  You would think that a professional golfer could easily do this without a training aid.  Give your head a shake!

Wake-up golfers!  If you want to hit long controlled golf shots like Martin Kaymer, you need to use any device required to train that muscle between your ears.   You need muscle memory.  The more you practice the correct swing the more you will get it right on the golf course.

In some of the 6 training uses for GOLFSTR+ the plastic plate actually locks your wrist so that it stops your wrist from bending during the swing (putting, chipping, backswing and limited wrist lag chipping).  In Straight Leading Arm Backswing and Lag Training, GOLFSTR+ is only a reminder when you reach your limit.  Yes, it’s a reminder like the Martin Kaymer tennis ball.

Check out GOLFSTR+ today:  www.golfstr.com

Rickie Fowler tied for second, 8 strokes off the lead in the US Open.  The score made it look like Martin Kaymer was the runaway winner but putting made the difference.  I hope you and Rickie were paying attention to Martin’s putts from off the green and on the green.  It made all the difference.

Commentators at the US Open talked about Rickie’s improved swing and control but they also said that his putting on the first 2 days kept him up with the leaders.  On the final round it became painfully obvious that Rickie was trying to let his putts die into the hole.  Big Mistake!

If your putts are curling around the hole and stopping inches past it then you are playing for a break that should never happen if you plan for your putt to run 12 to 18 inches past the hole.  Rickie could have saved 4 shots in his final 9 holes if he had only ignored the 1 degree of slope and hit firmly and directly at the hole.

Putting both on and off the green made all the difference for Martin.

Martin Kaymer was hitting amazing shots around the greens.  But he won the US Open with his putter:
Putting from Off the Green:  If he had a smooth access to the green (in the very short cut grass) Martin took all the risk of hitting fat chips by putting from off the green.  Chipping just adds a dimension of risk.  Getting a clean chip, the right bounce and the right run-out can be avoided by using the putter.   Whenever Martin had a chance to putt from off the green he made it count.

NOTE: Try gripping and swinging a hybrid or a 5 iron like a putter when hitting from off the green.   It helps you break the habit of hitting with the same pace as a putter.

Firm putts through the hole with confidence would have put Rickie neck and neck with Martin

Putting On the Green: There was a lot of TV coverage to let us see that Martin’s putts always sank with some pace.  They did not die into the hole.  He took the bumps and any minor slope (up to 1 degree angle) out of each putt by hitting firmly with confidence at the hole.  [CONFIDENCE IS THE KEY WORD HERE!]

You WILL improve your game by practicing lag putts from off the green and by planning your putts to run 10 to 18 inches past the hole. Remember that 100% of the putts that are short of the hole never go in so why are you hitting them short?

Both Rickie and Martin had locked leading wrists when they were putting.  [They were putting with their shoulders by rotating their spine to take any wrist motion out of their putts.]  GOLFSTR+ can give you the confidence to sink more putts by locking your leading wrist.  Practice with your GOLFSTR+ and save another 2 to 10 strokes in YOUR game.

Buy your GOLFSTR+ on our website www.golfstr.com or by entering the name GOLFSTR when you search on www.Amazon.com .

Practicing with GOLFSTR+ is critical to learning the right motion for each swing but without the right swing speed and follow through the results can be DEADLY.   This adjustment for each type of club should have a major impact on dropping your handicap.  ANOTHER AHA MOMENT!

Completing the proper swing for each of the 6 types of clubs will force you to shift your weight correctly.  It also gives your ball the right spin for more distance, direction control and run out.

SWING SPEED should reduce as you change clubs from the Driver down to the Pitching Wedge.  For the PGA Pros the driver speed averages 112 MPH and drops to an average of 83 MPH for the pitching wedge.  For the LPGA Pros it drops from 94 MPH to 70 MPH.    You may not be a pro but I suggest that you get with the program for better swing control.

Driver:  For your drives you tee up and place your ball forward in your stance for a good reason.  You want to impact with your ball after you pass the low point in your swing arc.  Your club head is driving up with maximum speed as you release your wrists through the ball.  You still need to drive your body forward and finish with your belt buckle facing the target.

Fairway Woods and Hybrids: Justin Rose reminds us to connect with the ball and finish the swing with limited impact with the ground.  It is the same swing as the driver but with a little less speed as you impact the ball at the bottom of your swing arc.  So cut the tops off the grass and avoid the divots.

Irons:  These are intentionally narrow club heads to allow you to swing down to impact the ball before you connect with the turf.  You may take a divot but only in front of the initial ball position.  Your goal is to impart a downward (reverse) spin on the ball for more control. Power your swing through the turf to a balanced finish.  [This also applies for sand shots where you swing like an 8 iron and take 3-6 inches of sand after the ball.]  THIS SWING TIP WILL HAVE THE GREATEST IMPACT ON LOWERING YOUR SCORE BY HELPING YOU HIT MORE GREENS IN REGULATION.

Pitching with Back-spin or Pitching with Run-out give you totally different results. Phil Mickelson has the flop shot (hinge & hold) down to an art.

Pitching Wedge (with backspin or check): Know your ball flight distance for each club and for each height of your backswing. Choose balls with softer covers (which will not fly as far).  Swing to connect with the ball before the turf but don’t roll your right hand over your left after the impact.  Phil Michelson calls it the hinge and hold.  Hinge your wrists in the back swing and hold your club face open with your shaft pointing at the target in your limited follow-through so that your ball will bounce once and stop.  This tip came from www.Golf-Info-Guide.com by Thomas Golf (the best training tips I have found)

Chip and Run-Out: Use any iron up to your sand wedge to skim your ball off the ground but make sure that you rotate your chest as well as your arms to finish facing your target.  Choose a club to clear obstructions (rough, sand traps and fringe) and learn the amount of run-out for each club on the green.  There is an art to getting this right so test each of your clubs to learn the percentage of distance by air compared to distance running out on the green.

Putting:  You can use any theory in putting but it only makes sense to avoid side spin as you impact the ball.  Avoid swinging around your body in an arc and focus your eyes on the ball (not the putter head) until you impact with the ball.  Finish by swinging your club up the line at your target point.  Getting the right direction is a good starting point for any putt.

So perfect your swing with GOLFSTR+ and finish your swing with the right speed and follow-through for each club.  For great training videos CLICK TO CHECKOUT this collection of videos in GOLFSTR.COM.

Here are some great golf tips that I picked up from Golf Magazines over the past week.  Why beat up your body and mind when common sense can help you survive and enjoy this great game?

What’s the best Drink on the Golf Course?
Dr Greg Wells, Sports Scientist for the US Junior National Golf Team advised that hours of practice and planning will all be wasted if your body is lacking basic fuel and nutrients.  Make sure that you fuel your brain with water.  60% of your body weight is made up of water but 90% of your brain is water.  It makes you tick so don’t forget to stay hydrated.

Play Within Yourself
Play within your capabilities.  Ignore the power of your playing partners.  Four hours of golf will take a lot out of your body.  Conserve your energy and play evenly throughout the entire round.  Take one extra club and swing smoothly.  So don’t swing harder, swing smarter.

Hey Jocks, push or pull a cart and save you back. The extra walk is good for you. [Stanford’s Cameron Wilson is saving his back in the NCAA National Championship]

Avoid Sugar Spikes
Drop the candy bars or “health” bars.  Eat some nuts or fruit every few holes to reduce inflammation.  Nuts and seeds (unsalted, not roasted) are ideal to keep your body in good shape during a round of golf and all day long.

Control Your Attitude
Getting uptight will only hurt your game.  Your reaction during the first 2 seconds after each shot will just build up in your body.  Strangling your club will shorten your muscles, limit your swing speed and change your swing plane.  At the Jack Nicklaus Memorial Tournament, Matsuyama smacked his driver on the ground and broke the shaft before he learned that his drive actually landed in the fairway.  Dumb idea.  So take control of your mind and your game will improve.

Set Goals for Your Game:
-Only 20% of golfers ever achieve a handicap under 18.  Make it happen.
-Walking during an 18-hole round of golf burns 2,000 calories.  Riding only burns 1,300.
-The oldest golfer to match his age to his golf score was 103.  Try to do it at any age.
-Make a hole in one.  Odds are 1 in 67,000,000 to do it twice in the same round.  So just go for 1.

Practice will Improve Your Game:
GOLFSTR+ will give you 6 ways to improve your swing.  Why not practice with the right motion for better impact with the ball — for every swing in your game, CLICK HERE to get a GOLFSTR+.