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

Bill Curry, inventor of GOLFSTR

Archives for the ‘Swing Solutions’ Category

Learn from The Masters

Watching The Masters is a great opportunity to learn from the MASTERS of GOLF. Augusta put the leading golfers from throughout the world to the ultimate test. Unfortunately, the TV coverage is focused mainly on the leaders’ performance on each day of the tournament. On the Sunday coverage we saw Jon Rahm at his best, Brooks Koepka struggling and Phil Mickelson (with very little TV coverage) plodding along to end up tied with Brooks for second place. You can definitely learn from these master golfers.

They all get into the same problems as we do but they often recovered with intelligent shots.

Attitude: Jon Rahm started his final day 4 shots behind Brooks Koepka and finished the day 4 shots ahead. He placed most of his drives in the fairway and kept his cool when he made poor chips or putts. His patience paid off. After making up 2 strokes on the first hole played on Sunday he reminded his caddy that he had a lot of holes ahead of them.

Jon Rahm earned his 2023 Masters Green Jacket with patience and skill.

Luck (“Rub of the Green”): Jon was 4 strokes ahead on the final hole when he duck-hooked his tee shot into the trees. The TV camera followed his shot deep into the forest, but his ball landed short and in the middle of the fairway. He parred the hole.

Cool Head: Brooks Koepka lost his lead with a few weak chips and a number of errant tee shots in spite of some miraculous golf shots. On the tee shot to start his 4th round he landed about 75 yards offline in the next fairway but his recovery shot to the green allowed him to make par. On the 10th hole dogleg left, he hit the dreaded straight shot behind a pine tree. He avoided a risky shot under that tree and hit safely to the fairway. That was followed by a perfect shot to the green and a putt for par.

Wisdom (The Tortoise and the Hare): Phil Mickelson got very little TV coverage so very few of his successes were covered. He used his new streamlined body, added muscle and knowledge of the course to shoot 7 under par on his final round to place second. At the age of 52 he is now the oldest player to end up in the top 5 at any of the 85 Masters tournaments which have been played.

We all need to improve the consistency of our drives (like Jon Rahm), perfect our pitches and chips for more 1 or 2 putt greens and be patient to get our poor shots back in play. Ultimately, putting excellence is the most important component of your game. Practice with your GOLFSTR+ to improve every key component of your game. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

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Add Shape to your Drives and Control Your Game

Martin Chuck and Danny Maude recently sent out blogs talking about trying to hit straight drives. You swing a golf club in an arc, so its almost impossible to get both the swing direction and the club face direction in the correct position for a consistent straight drive. Any imperfection will launch your ball in the wrong direction as well as adding a sideways hook or slice rotation. You really should make slight setup changes to ensure that your ball flight will draw or fade back into your target zone: THE FAIRWAY.

Both Martin and Danny have trained thousands of students to overcome their swing issues, so they realize that every golfer has their own unique swing problems. And of course, you do too.

Martin Chuck referred to his Automatic Accuracy System. Basically, his system only works if you are either a CONSISTENT hooker or slicer. Setup by lining up to your target and then compensate for your hook by slightly opening your club face to offset your hook. If you have a consistent slice just close your club face by different amounts to sort out your ideal launch direction .

Danny describes solutions by slightly moving your stance forward or back along your target line to change the point where your swing arc bottoms-out to compensate for a consistent hook or slice. [You want to bottom-out before impact to launch your drives on your up-swing.] Your next adjustment is to setup with a slightly open club face to add fade or slightly closed face to add draw. Your goal is to curve your ball back into the fairway on every drive.

Setup aiming right (as above) or left to use your consistent draw (as above) or fade to bring your drive back into the fairway.

Small changes can solve problems with your swing. Make your adjustments to find the right setup mix and then hone it into your swing for more consistent drives. Write down your ideal adjustments and read them often. [Driving from a flat tee block is the critical starting point to improve your consistency.]

Practice with your GOLFSTR+ to keep your consistently straight leading arm and controlled wrist action. Buy one today to create 6 swing fixes at www.GOLFSTR.com

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Track your Game and Cut Your Scores

If you could discover the primary flaws in your game, would you be able to attack those flaws and lower your scores?  Of course, you can!  Just recognizing your areas of weakness will give you a renewed purpose to focus on those areas by looking for solutions, taking lessons and applying your findings to overcome your weaknesses.

The game of golf can be broken down into 4 components.  Each one has its own unique requirements and solutions for improvement.  If you look at Performance Stats for any professional golf tournament for the leading golfer as compared to the stats for the worst golfer, you will see glaring differences in the following 4 components of their games. Improve your stats and cut your scores.

1/ Driving Distance (DD): Longer drives will give you shorter approach shots.  

2/ Fairways and par 3 greens Hit in Regulation (FIR): Simplify approach shots and putts.

3/ Greens Hit in Regulation (GIR):  This is the best way to reduce your putts.

4/ Putts Per Green (PPG):  Two putts on every hole is an excellent target so 36 putts is a reasonable score.  Pros typically make fewer than 30 putts per round.

Use the corners of each box/hole on your score to record your successes.  Give yourself a mark for FIR, GIR and to record your putts.  Total each stat for every round as well as your total pars and birdies.  Track your success and focus on improving the weakness in your game.

Track Your Game and Don’t Waste Stokes

a/ Don’t Try Hero Shots.  Hit to a safe location for an easy shot to the green.

b/ Don’t add up your score after 9 holes or as you approach the end of your round.  Just play each hole without adding pressure to hit perfect shots.

c/ Take a Penalty Stroke when you are in a bad lie.   Drop your ball away from a dangerous shot.

If you can’t take the shot just get out of trouble and take a penalty stroke.

d/ Beware of Post Bird Screw Up:  Calm down and get over that birdie on the last hole.  Don’t end up with a Duck Hook or a Slice OB for your next tee shot.

Every golf shot will create a new set of opportunities or disappointments.  Accept your situation and get on with your next shot.  The most important shot in golf is your next shot.  Nothing else should be on your mind.  You will enjoy your game if you lower your scores.  So practice with GOLFSTR+ to fix 6 swing faults.  Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

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Finding Golf Solutions for your Physical Deficits

GOLFSTR Swing Tip blogs are all based on articles written about solutions recommended by professional golfers and trainers. I present their thoughts in a simplified version because I’m always looking for the magic that will set your game (and my game) on fire. In a recent tip by GOLFPASS I discovered a tip that solved a problem for one of my physical limitations and realized every golfer who can’t swing like a pro may be faced with similar problems.

Whether you know it or not, we all have physical deficits caused by historic injuries or wear and tear on our bodies. Every time you recover from a broken bone or a torn muscle or cartilage, other parts of your body adjust to accommodate repetitive motions. That’s also a reason why you have a difficult time trying to change your posture or your golf swing.

In a GOLFPASS on-line lesson I discovered my upper body limitation and a solution to overcome my rotation limitation to improve my swing power and driving distance. When I asked other aging golfers about this limitation, I found that this may be a common problem for most golfers over 50 years of age.

Adding lag in your backswing is a key component which allows you to add power in every swing. Your arm rotation allows you to add lag. The trainer suggested that we should:
1/ extend your trailing arm (right arm for right handed golfers) horizontally from our side
2/ bend it forward (horizontally) from your elbow
3/ and rotate your bent arm (elbow to your hand) vertically and beyond vertical if you can.

My deficit (like many aging golfers) is that I can only rotate my arm upward about 80 degrees. Scratch golfers can rotation their upper arm about 20% beyond vertical. That’s 30 degrees beyond my ability. So that gives them a 30 degrees advantage to add more lag (and power) in their backswing.

Rory McIlroy, like most pro golfers, can bend the bottom of his trailing arm back for more lag than aging golfers

Solution
To compensate for this limitation in my lag and backswing, the GOLFPASS trainer suggested that I move my trailing foot 2 inches back from the imaginary line along my toes and parallel to my target line of my ball. This added distance to rotate give me more arc distance in my swing to add power without bending my leading arm in the backswing.

With this new setup, I have been able to add more power and distance for all of my drives where I need more distance. I don’t make this change for my irons as I know the distance that they give me without making a setup change for my feet.

I have also increased my tee height (using a “Martini Tee”); flattened my leading wrist on my straight leading arm (to shallow my downswing) and swing with more confidence into the inside quadrant of my ball to add draw and distance to my shots. I also practice with GOLFSTR+ for the straight arm fix to add more power. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

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Golf Problems? Get Some Professional Help!

Whether you know it or not, every golfer has his own personal swing problems. You may have been given advise like “Keep your head down or Slow your swing down” but these tips are not helping. You need professional help to sort out the root cause which is preventing you from landing every drive in the fairway.

Your golfing buddies can only advise you on what they see but they most likely can’t give you the proper approach to solve your swing problems.

Key for Golf Success: Longer Drives
Hank Haney recently reminded us in a blog that longer drives are the key to success on every par 4 or par 5 hole. Longer, accurate drives help you shorten every hole. The only way to achieve longer drives is with faster head speeds at the point of impact with your ball. You don’t want to swing harder, but you do want to swing faster by releasing your wrists with whipping action through the ball.

Your success depends on your ability to generate club head speed in the direct line with your target. Swinging with a slicing or hooking action is minimizing your resulting power. They are just as bad as hitting a shot fat or thin. You need a professional PGA trainer using a LAUNCH MONITOR (or golf ball flight analyzer) to measure the rotation of your golf ball and then present the ideal swing changes for your ideal hits.

My personal driver swing defect was identified as a downward slicing swing path. My correction was made by flattening or bowing my leading wrist at the top of my backswing to shallow my swing path as I swing from the inside and up my target line. I’m an aging golfer and I now drive consistently over 200 yards (up to 250). I have virtually eliminated my 100-yard mishits.

Top Speed Golf provided this image to illustrate flat wrist (or bowed wrist) to shallow your swing path.

Of course, I have to relax my body and mind before I swing and keep my eyes on the ball through impact. My new power comes from taking a full backswing with lag and shallowing my downswing with more confidence to hit my ball off a higher tee from the inside . The elimination of any hook or slice action on my ball are critical for any golfers success.

Don’t waste more time driving yourself crazy with this game. Hire a pro to recommend the swing that will revolutionize your game and focus on hitting the sweat spot. Practice with your GOLFSTR+ for 6 swing fixes with a straight leading arm and controlled wrist movement for your new and improved swing. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

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Are Your First Tee Shots a Killer for your Game?

I recently read an article that described Tiger Woods’ past problems hitting poor drives on the first tee in many tournaments. I did not realize that it was a problem for Tiger but I certainly know that I, like many others, generate poor drives on the first tee for any round of golf. We all practice for that first tee shot but I did some research to understand first tee jitters and how best to fix them.

Chemical Release That You Need to Overcome
Nervous tension on the first tee automatically triggers the release of dopamine and serotonin as well as the hormones: adrenalin and cortisol. They affect the mental way that you react and the physical way that your body moves. You have no choice but to deal with these mental and physical limitations.

Dopamine speeds up your heart rate and serotonin affects your emotions. They get your excited and may be the reason why you are speeding up your swing on the first tee (or any tee for that matter). Adrenalin gives you an energy boost and Cortisol increases your stress level. They are the reason why you shorten your backswing and hit shots off the toe of your open faced club.

Any one of these 3 images may represent your full backswing. Don’t rush your backswing and limit your normal rotation. An abbreviated backswing will kill your power and destroy your tee shot.

Set a Plan to Overcome your First Tee Emotions
Just knowing that you have to deal with your chemical and hormone release will give you a new advantage over your nervous body and mind.
1/ Calm Down: Take a few deep breaths as you select your club and setup for your shot.

2/ Keep Moving: Take a practice swing by shifting your weight from your leading to your trailing foot as you rotate your hips and generate a FULL backswing with your shoulders and arms.

3/ Loosen Up: Move up to your ball and look up to check your target line-up. Keep your hands and feet moving by lifting or waggling your club to avoid tensing up.

4/ Focus on Your Cadence: : Eliminate external thoughts by internally saying “1” to start your backswing, “annnd” as you rotate your hips and flatten you leading wrist to shallow and start your down-swing on the count of “2”.

The key to your successful first hole drive is to calm down and to overcome your swing limitations caused by chemical and hormone releases. Just make a full rotation for your backswing and hold your lag as your legs start your downswing. Practicing with GOLFSTR+ will help you overcome your fears. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

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Get Your Setup Right for the Right Club

Every time you setup to hit a ball you need the right plan in your mind.  You are either planning to LAUNCH with your driver by hitting up or you are trying to POWER off the deck with all of your fairway clubs. You can’t afford to mix these up or you will pop-up your drives and top your fairway shots.  Positioning your ball forward for drives and centering your ball for fairway shots is easy to do but your mind also should focus on the right swing ANGLE OF ATTACK.

Too often we generate power off our back foot when we drive and then repeat the same swing and fall back when we are mishitting a fairway shot with a wood or iron.  We have all read articles where you can’t tell if the author is writing about a LAUNCH or a POWER shot (off the deck).  Make sure you tee up and tilt your shoulders 20 degrees to launch your drivesIt’s the best way to shorten the course.

EARLY EXTENSION Will Kill Your Launch AND Power Shots

Completing your swing by SPRINGING up with your knees will kill your driver or fairway shots.  Don’t do it.  I’m only making this statement to ensure that you don’t misunderstand the launch with your driver.  You still need to let your shoulder tilt and let your limited loft driver do the work.  Use the point of impact off the tee to allow your driver’s trajectory angle take care of the distance.

Tiger Woods Described How He Controls Launch Angle with Irons

He uses the same swing to launch his irons at different heights ONLY by adjusting the ball position in his stance. Of course, his drives are all completed with a forward ball position which is teed up.  (He even out-drove Rory McIlroy at the 2023 Genesis Tournament, so he isn’t losing his touch.)

For low to high iron shots Tiger demonstrates his technique with 3 balls in a row.  The middle ball in the center of his stance is for normal iron shots with a normal follow-through.  The back ball is for low shots where he wants to feel like his is finishing his swing at his waist.  For high shots all he does in move 1 ball forward of his normal position and finishes his swing with his hands high over the top of my head.”

Tiger sets up with his ball back in his stance for low pitch shots to let his ball roll out to his target.

These setup descriptions all require subtle changes.  That’s why your golf game may not be perfect.  The pros have swing coaches to watch for their mistakes.  I learned this when my professional instructor told me to swing more from the inside in order to keep the face of my club open.  BINGO!  I have a whole new game.

Watch your ball flight to spot clues for your swing mistakes.  Practice with GOLFSTR+ to sort out 6 corrections for your driver, fairway and putting swings.  Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

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Improve Your Game: Beat Yourself

No, I don’t mean that you should beat-up on yourself. Every time you play a round of golf you should be using your strengths to improve your game. Why not play a game against your current handicap or an average score that you would like to beat. Or you may plan to shoot a round under 100 or 90 or 80. The best way to succeed is set a realistic score for each hole that you are about to play based on the handicap level for each of the 18 holes.

You will never improve your game if you keep taking the same approach to every hole.

Every hole on every golf course is rated from 1 to 18 based on the hardest hole being the #1 handicap hole and 18 being the easiest. Before you start a round of golf decide on the number of strokes that you will allow yourself over par and mark your card on each of the lower handicap holes (difficult holes) to play those holes as a bogie or double bogie hole.

You will love your game but don’t get too excited as you need the same composure for your next shot.

Stay in the Right Frame of Mind
1/ Take the pressure off your mind and relax the swing with each club. You will be amazing at how easy it is to hit every shot to 80% of your expected distance with your chosen club.

2/ You will lower your scores if you take the pressure off your game by playing shots to a safe area at the front of the green and then chipping for a 1 or 2 putt green.

3/ Use a club with less loft so that you can back-off on the power that you are attempting to hit. This will improve the consistency of your shots.

4/ Be realistic about your ability to hit each club exactly with your best hit in the center of your club face. Typically 80% of your shots will not reach the distance that you expect.

5/ Driver is the only club that you want to hit with more power for more distance (to shorten every hole). Don’t get carried away! Know your setup and swing that will give you the most power with draws or fades using your driver. Know your ability and stick with a controlled swing.

Learn to be a strategic golfer BY AVOIDING KILL SHOTS. Choosing more club with less power will help you keep more shots in the fairway. They call your other option in the ROUGH because it’s not where you want to be.

Remember to play YOUR game against YOUR ability without trying to kill the ball. Take more time to rotate your hips as you start your backswing and add lag by cocking your wrists to generate more power. GOLFSTR+ is designed to remind you to keep your leading arm straight and to limit your backswing. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

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Are you Looking for YOUR Game Changer?


I really enjoyed watching the final round of the Waste Management Championship with 3 leaders who fought neck and neck throughout the day. I like to root for the underdog, so Nick Taylor (ranked 223rd in the world) had a surprising performance as he kept up with Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm who were fighting it out to take the number 1 golfer position in the world. Nick Taylor has not won a major championship in years so I was really curious to find out how he had changed his game to stay in contention.

Bonus money was added to this tournament, so the winner took $3.6 million and second place took $2.18 million. That prize money added pressure on every shot for the leaders and especially on Taylor who really has been a Canadian No-Name in golf for some time.

Game Changer
Nick Taylor had to make a number of pressure putts over 10 feet throughout the final round. After the round he described his NEWFOUND SUCCESS. Over the past few months, he has been putting with a claw grip with his trailing hand.

Nick Taylor’s breakthrough is a claw grip with his trailing hand to square-up his swing direction to win second place in WM Championship.

His lead hand is a conventional putting grip but with his first finger pointing directly down the leading side of his putter grip.
His trailing hand is a claw grip with his wrist turned sideways so that it can’t bend during his swing.
-As long as he chose the right line and the right amount of swing speed his claw grip allows him to swing directly up his target line. Eliminating any trailing wrist action stops his stronger right hand from pushing his putter in an arc around his body.

I love this concept and plan to adopt this claw grip as I have been putting by releasing my trailing hand at the point of impact so that my leading hand swings my putter directly up my target line. Using a claw grip with my trailing hand should give me more stability in my swing especially for putts under 15 feet.

A key principle for putting is to avoid bending your wrists and ONLY using the rocking action of your major back and shoulder muscles. That’s why one of the 6 swing fixes provided by GOLFSTR+ is to hold your leading wrist flat during your putting stroke. The claw grip with your trailing hand ELIMINATES putter face rotation. BINGO! Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

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Keeping Your Sanity When You Golf

Recreational golfers love to imitate the pros that they watch on TV but it may be doing you more harm than good. Of course we all want to make shots like the pros but their exceptional shots may be killing our mental focus and sending our games down the drain.

If the pros can land a 150 yard shot over a well trapped narrow green, why can’t we? For one thing, we don’t have the height and backspin with our 6 or 7 iron to hold the green. I tried this shot yesterday and it cost me 2 more shots to get my plugged ball out of the forward lip of a trap. What was I thinking?

Here are 2 more common sense thoughts that we should learn from the pros.

1/ Sinking 10-15 foot Putts: Last year’s leader in this category was Alex Noren. He sank 43% of those mid-range putts. The Tour average was just 30%. Recreational golfers should be happy to sink 10-15% of these putts. My point here is that you should not lose your cool if you miss a 10-15 foot putt. Plan on passing the hole (as the short ones never go in) to give yourself a chance for success but you should be happy with a 2-putt from that distance.

If you miss a 10-15 foot putt DON’T GET ANGRY WITH YOUR PERFORMANCE.

Golf Digest offered this image to remind you that anger will never improve your game (or your clubs).

2/ Chip Your 30-60 yard Wedges to within 10 Feet: Recreational golfers typically miss half of their approach shots to every green (and that’s including the short par 3 holes). That’s why you should be including at least 25% of your practice time developing your chipping skills to within 10 feet of a target hole.

Minimize your score by practicing chipping close to the hole and sinking more of your 1-5 foot putts.
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Ask any pro how they sink more long putts. ANSWER: Take a chipping or iron lesson!

Cut down on the time that you spend learning to perfect your long clubs. Over half your time should be spent on perfecting your chipping, sand shots and putting because that is where you will save more shots in every round of golf. Practice with your GOLFSTR+ to limit your wrist lag when chipping and to keep your leading wrist flat for putting. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

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