Swing Solutions

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.

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. In addition, other golfers can also find the the best way to shop for a golf simulator in order to enhance their game.

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
 

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.

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

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.

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

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 drives.  It’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.”

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

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.

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

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.

–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

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.

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

Each golf shot is a fresh new opportunity to deliver your ball to your target. You can’t do this without a methodical plan and response that works for you. I realize that very few golfers will ever achieve the distance and control of the male pros so I like to focus on the graceful swings of the female pro golfers. If they can consistently deliver drives that are controlled and over 250 yards, that should be good enough for 90% of all golfers who will never be scratch golfers.

When my game is going sideways, I have always been told that I’m swinging too hard. That’s exactly when I try to take control of my mind and body and place it in my own private box where I can take control of my takeaway tempo.

Slowing down your backswing gives you more time to complete a full shoulder rotation and wrist hinge for a 90-degree lag. Rush it and you will miss your opportunity for a great shot with less effort and an amazing result.

The Korda sisters, Nelly and Jessica, both have graceful swings. During a training session with their coach, Jamie Mulligan, they were asked how they controlled their takeaway. Nelly said that Jamie taught her to imagine that her club head is like a rock on the end of a string. She uses a slow acceleration through-out her backswing to create a graceful tempo (as she swing her rock away from the ground).

That’s a great image to help you create a wonderful tempo for your backswing. It will help you slow your transition and accelerate your downswing.

When you take more time for your backswing, don’t let your leading elbow bend to wrap your arm around your neck. Just limit your backswing and practice with GOLFSTR+ to find your straight leading arm limit and to also feel your trailing arm create a 90 degree bend for lag. Those are just 2 of the 6 uses for your GOLFSTR+. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

There are lots of ways to create mishit shots, but you should learn the 3 basic tricks to eliminate at least 50% of YOUR mishits.  If you are falling back when you swing or taking a divot before impact with the ball, your swing arc is bottoming out too early.  Using the following “tricks” will help you learn the correct impact position to avoid mishits and should help you reform your swing.

Mental Preparation

Before you start to use these swing “tricks”, calm your mind and stop trying to knock the skin off your ball.  Your last great shot or your last missed shot may be motivating you to swing harder.  Get that out of your mind. Setup and make the exact practice swing that you plan to make before you hit your next shot.  Learn from that swing by watching where you skim the ground or take any divot.  Adjust your setup and make the practice swing that you want to execute.

Use the following “tricks” when you find that you are rushing your swing on a windy day, hitting from a bad lie in the rough or when you are planning to hit a miracle shot.  A proper swing will allow you to transfer your weight to your leading foot during your transition and allow your swing-arc to bottom-out at the correct point for your driver, irons and wedges. 

1/ Driver Trick: [Error to avoid: bottoming out under your ball and causing pop-ups]

Tee your ball up to about half the ball height above the top of our driver head.  Impact should be on a 3-to-7-degree upswing.  Setup with the ball off the heel of our leading foot and the face of your driver about 5 inches directly behind your ball (where you want to bottom-out your swing arc – just like Moe Norman).  [Tilting your trailing shoulder down and moving your trailing foot back 2 inches off the target line during your setup will help you create the right swing arc.] Swing from the inside-and-up to launch your ball for more distance.

2/ Iron and Wedge Trick: [Error to avoid: swing arc bottoming-out before the ball.]

Your weight needs to be transferred to your leading foot before impact.  Setup with a bent leading knee to keep 60% of your weight on your leading foot throughout the swing.  Your ball is centered in your stance (narrower for your wedge shots), square the leading edge of your iron and point your shaft grip at your belt buckle.  Control the distance of your shot with a full backswing (or limited for a wedge) keeping a straight leading arm.  Let the weight of your club start your downswing (DON’T RUSH IT).  Complete your follow-through directly up your target line.

3/ Bunker Trick: [Error to avoid: Burying your wedge and losing power to exit the trap.]

Bend your leading knee to keep 60% of your weight forward.  Setup with a wide AND open stance (20 to 30 degrees open) with the ball centered between your feet.  Open the face of your chosen wedge to ensure that the blade will bounce through the sand (NOT DIG IN).  Control the distance of your shot with the loft of your club and with an equal amount of backswing and follow-through.

Practice these tricks with GOLFSTR+ to learn the impact of a straight leading elbow and a flat leading wrist with every club in your bag.  Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

I found a great summary of mistakes published by Josh Berhow when interviewing PGA pros at GOLF’s Top 100 Teachers Summit . You really don’t have to change your game to lower your scores. just don’t make the following mistakes.

1. Arriving Late for Your Tee Time: Arrive early for your tee time or your round will suffer. Warm up with stretching and hit some wedges, chips and putts. Ideally you should get there earlier, don’t rush, practice with a purpose (stretch and practice your woods, chip, putt, etc.) and stroll to that first tee with confidence.
2. Play from the right tees: Choose the tee that allows you to reach the green in 2 shots on the longest par-4 hole. Do it and you will have a lot more fun.
3. Hit the Shots that Work for You: If you are hitting a 10-yard slice with their irons and a 20-yard slice with the driver on the range, don’t try to make changes during your round. Use the shots that work for you. Stick with it. Own it. Be confident in it. And if the issue is still there after your round or again for your next, then it’s time to check in with a teacher.
4. Know your gear: Don’t try to get more out of your clubs than they are designed to give you. Understand that your 5-wood will give you a higher ball flight (than a 3-wood) with more stopping power on the green. Apply the same rule for all of your clubs.
5. Stop going after pins: Just don’t do it. Even pros don’t go at every flag. Aim for the middle of the green and favor the side with less trouble. Even Bernhard Langer has said he sometimes does this when he has a lead down the stretch. He calls it being “cautiously aggressive.”
6. Find the fairway when you are struggling: World GOLF Teachers Hall of Famer Mike Adams says, in short: tee it low. This makes you hit more down on the ball, and if you stand a little closer and flare your lead foot out, it will force you to rotate and, worst case, your mishit will be on the heel and lead to a harmless cut that still finds the short stuff.
7. Avoid double bogey or worse: Stop playing hero shots and get your ball back in play. Punch out from a dire situation, find the green and two-putt for bogey. Call that a win and move on.
8. Know your distances: High-handicaps miss short way more often than they miss long. Golfers with a handicap of 21 or higher missed short 70 percent of the time. So, if you are in between clubs, remember that stat.
9. Get over bad shots and move on: After a poor shot Tiger Woods told his son, Charlie: “I don’t care how mad you get. Get over it and be 100 percent committed to the next shot. That’s all that matters. That next shot should be the most important shot in your life. It should be more important than breathing.”
10. Don’t get too cute around the greens: Unless you really know how to hit a high-lofted wedge, chip with a safer club or if you are close enough to the green, use your putter. Learn to let the bounce of the wedge do the work for you after your round of golf.
11. These tips will help your game without changing your swing. Why not practice with GOLFSTR+ to help you learn 6 types of swings with a straight leading elbow and to control your wrist position for putting, chipping and iron shots. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com