Swing Solutions

Does your swing stay exactly the same when you swing at the range, on the fairway or in the rough? Well your tempo should be the same. Unfortunately as our game gets in trouble, our mental state changes and we tend to take it out on the ball. In frustration, our golf swing may revert to a baseball swing. In our panic stricken mind, we are looking for every ounce of energy. Big mistake!

A. When your ball is nestled down in the rough do you rush your backswing which limits the length of your backswing? Big mistake!
B. When you see one of your playing partners pound a tremendously long shot, do you try to hit faster and harder. Big mistake!
C. When you have to get over water or trees or a distant sand trap, do you lose your tempo, avoid transferring your weight to your leading leg and top your ball? Big mistake!

SOLUTION: TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR MIND and maintain the same rhythm in your swing for every shot. A consistent swing routine is a good starting point but when the pressure is on and your mind is ticked off you need a way to SNAP OUT OF YOUR COMMITMENT TO KILL THAT BALL.

1/ When you recognize that you are getting out of control you need to mentally say words to calm yourself down and get back into a calm and relaxed rhythm. [The TRICK you must understand is that your mind can’t think bad thoughts when your mind says positive words. (You can’t do both at the same time.)]
2/ Say the word “STOP” to re-start your state of mind and stop whatever you are doing to allow time for a mental reset. Use the word “STOP” as a trigger to get back on track.
3/ Start your “CALMING PERFORMANCE”. Take a deep breath and exhale. Then say words to yourself that will lead you through your normal setup and swing. You should develop your own calming words. Practice saying them at the driving range and then repeat them when you recognize that you are out of control.

I start my calming process by using the words “Straight Arm” as I calmly use a shoulder rotation waggle with my straight leading arm (ensuring that my trailing elbow is out from my ribs).

To control my tempo I use the 3 words “SWEEP AND FINISH”: #1 SWEEP for full shoulder rotation, #2 AND for wrist lag and #3 FINISH for wrist release from the “slot” to a balanced finish.

NOTE: TAKE YOUR PENALTY: When your ball is deep in the rough, you should accept the fact that you need to pay for this penalty. Use a lofted iron that will dig down into the rough to hit it out with a lot less distance than it would normally achieve when hitting on “the short stuff”. Control your mind and decide to take the penalty shot to get your ball back in a perfect fairway position for your next shot. DON’T try for the miracle shot which may just put your ball back in the rough.

Practice your CALMING WORDS at the range and when your mind needs to be calm on the course. Practice with GOLFSTR+ for your straight arm swing AND 6 Swing Fixes. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

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Is your right arm taking over your swing? If you are right handed, you are most likely playing with right handed golf clubs. Unfortunately the extra strength in your right arm may be overpowering your swing. This may be the cause for your inconsistent swing problems.

The power for your swing comes from your straight left arm and wrist release at the point of impact. The key functions for your right arm are to create lag at the top of your swing and to keep your shoulders moving through your swing plane. If you allow your stronger right arm, wrist and hand to dominate your swing, you can lose control of your swing.

Swing Problems that your Stronger Right Arm Can Cause
• An early release or casting of the wrist at the top of your swing.
• An early turn of your shoulders preventing the swing from the inside slot.
• An early turn of your wrist release at the point of impact causes a duck hook.
• A death grip which kills the whipping action of your left wrist at the point of impact.
• Tight arm muscles which shorten your arms so that your impact is at the toe of your club.

Knowing that your stronger right arm may be the culprit that causes your inconsistent swing is the important starting point to improve the consistency of your swing.

SOLUTION: Use Your Practice Swing to Test for Swing Changes
At the practice range your muscles are loose and relaxed. Your mind and body may change when you start your round of golf. Use a full practice swing to compare the setup position of your club head with the impact point of your club head (as it whooshes through the impact point). This point may be changing as you stretch out or tighten your muscles during your round of golf.

First tee nerves; anger thinking about your last mishit; fear about hazards ahead and excitement caused by your last successful shot are all reasons why your body tightens or loosens throughout your round of golf. These changes are most likely the cause for your inconsistencies.

On Day #3 of the 2017 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Golf Club, Jason Day and Hideki Matsuyama both lost their driving accuracy. When the pressure is on, even the pros can lose control of their minds and bodies. They needed miraculous shots to stay in contention.
1/ Set up in a comfortable position with your hands hanging down directly below your shoulders.
2/ Take a full practice swing to see if your club head is traveling across your setup point.
3/ If your right arm is taking control of your swing, you may see that your club head swings inside or outside of your setup point. If this occurs, move up or back from your ball to compensate for the mishit distance in your practice swing. Then go ahead and make the perfect shot.

Your dominant trailing arm muscles are relaxing and tightening as you play your round of golf. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to learn to swing with a straight leading arm and avoid letting your trailing arm ruin the consistency of your swing. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

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I wish it was as easy as the title states!  I recently saw a blog by Rotary Swing that gave me a new perspective on the golf swing.  Hitting thousands of balls will never fix your swing if you don’t relax and incorporate the 4 key moves for a consistent, powerful swing. It’s as simple as Shoulder, Lag, Bump and Release. If you can’t learn these motions, it’s difficult to create a consistent, powerful golf swing.

The Haney Project was a TV series on the Golf Channel with many celebrities like Ray Romano, Charles Barkley and Rush Limbaugh. Hank Haney created some success with each individual by repetition and hitting 1000’s of golf balls. He worked on their swing path but never gave them the power and consistency that they were all hoping to find. The Rotary Swing Blog said that this series only highlighted the weakness of repetition when you are not focused on key body movements to create the right swing plane.

Create a Successful Swing
The simplified version of the golf swing is completed in 4 steps:
1/ takeaway with a shoulder rotation;
2/ pull your straight leading arm up with your bent trailing arm to create lag,
3/ weight transfer at the top with a hip bump during the transition and
4/ a whipping, wrist release at impact.

Upper body leads the takeaway and the lower body starts the down swing. Your hands are the last to release. For power and consistency you need to generate these 4 motions during your swing. Hideki Matsuyama has developed a “mechanical” swing that works.  The key to his swing is finding the right lag position and hip bump at the top.  This slow motion video shows it all.

To be a good golfer, you don’t have to look like you have the perfect swing. Last weekend when Hideki won the WGC Bridgestone Invitational against the 50 best golfers in the world, he proved that you can create a position at the top of your swing. He actually stops the motion of his swing at the top of his swing with a straight leading arm and wrist lag as he shifts his weight to his leading leg. He finds that  position and then pulls the trigger with amazing results.

Consider creating a great position at the top of your swing before you pull down and release. Practice with your GOLFSTR+ to learn all 4 of your key motions for consistency in your swing. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

Our Swing Tip last week got an interesting cross-section of comments. First I need to clarify that a golf swing where you fall back with all of your weight on your trailing leg will result in mishits or topped balls. If you ever try to crush the ball and swing at a high speed using only your arms, you WILL fall backwards. Our tip last week was intended to help golfers who finish their swing falling back on their back foot to break out of that problem.

Larry Rinker’s Corrective Comments
I first must apologize to Larry Rinker as I misunderstood his comments. He was offering a DRILL to help golfers transfer their weight from the trailing leg to the leading leg during the swing. He clarified by telling me: “Setting up with 60-75% of your weight in your lead side, the way you would be positioned at impact, is a good DRILL to learn how to swing your arms, hands, and wrists correctly.” He was NOT recommending this as a proper setup position.

[I just found that HOLDING a 60% forward pressure from setup to impact is a great way to force your weight transfer to 100% on your leading foot at the end of your swing. Tommy Armour also setup with more pressure on the leading foot and the setup pressure on your leading foot should increases as you move to higher irons. If you find that you are able to transfer your weight during the swing, you may want to ignore this tip.]

Larry then went on to say: “The upper core player (not recreational player) will pivot around their lead leg on the back swing with the least amount of lateral motion. So in your case, if you are an upper core player, you are benefiting from not moving off of the ball on the back swing, which is what an upper core player does. This helps your contact at impact.”

NOTE: Each of the golfers who I see loading their weight on the front leg during the setup have strong upper cores. They avoid a reverse pivot in the downswing. To lock your head in one position throughout the backswing, try the Jack Nicklaus trick: Just turn your head back slightly so that you can focus on the ball with your left eye. It forces you to rotate my shoulders around your neck in a locked position the way most pros do (without swaying back or lifting up in your backswing)

Andy Schwebe’s Update
Andy is a low handicap golfer and has been setting up with his weight forward for years. He commented on last week’s swing tip with one further clarification: “Besides keeping 60% of your weight on your front foot, the other cheat that helps is to only put the rest of your weight on the inside edge of your back foot. Never let your weight go to the outside edge of that back foot.”

If your body is not allowing you to swing like Ben Hogan, why not try this pressure shift to get your body and ball moving in the right direction. Once you get the feel for swinging through the ball with your weight shifted forward it will start happening naturally and you will be swinging like Ben Hogan in no time. Remember to practice with GOLFSTR+ for every swing in your game. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

 

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Earlier this year I released a Swing Tip highlighting the most important tips that I learned at the Forum Stage in the PGA Merchandise Show January 2017. One of those tips has made all the difference in my game so I felt that I should highlight the way to cheat your body and mind to create weight shift.

Yes, I said cheat, because none of the pros need or want to do this. They all learned the proper way to incorporate weight shift from their trialing foot to their leading foot as a natural part of their swing. I see too many recreational players who panic in the middle of their backswing. Their practice swing (at 70% of their normal speed) has a perfect transfer of weight to their leading foot. That speed allows them to finish in a balanced pose on their leading foot. The problem happens when they setup to hit that little white ball.

At the PGA Forum I took notes from a panel of the top trainers in USA. Hank Haney, David Leadbetter, Jim McLean,  Michael Breed and Larry Rinker were all on the panel. I had never heard of Larry Rinker but he is the only one who provided a gutsy recommendation for the recreational golfer who really has a problem with timing the weight shift during their swing.

I said that Larry made a gutsy tip because it really is not ideal to start your drives and fairway shots with 60% of your weight on your leading foot according to most golf trainers. No-one refuted Larry’s comments so I have been using his tip when I find that my boding is not in sync with my game. In other words, when I start rushing my swing and topping the ball as I swing without shifting my weight to my leading foot.

I don’t know why this problem sometimes starts at the first tee or half way through my round but my mind just has a brain cramp where I lose the fluid motion of my swing. I just start swinging with my arms and forget to create the shift of my hip forward (for weight transfer) during the transition at the top of my swing. I end up with most of my weight still on my trailing leg at the point of impact.

THE TIP:
Larry Rinker suggested that recreational golfer have a problem transferring their weight to their leading foot during the downswing. He suggested setting up with 60% of your weight on your leading foot and holding your weight forward throughout your backswing and downswing so that you will finish with all of your weight on your leading foot.  [Just bend your leading knee a little more to tilt your body forward exactly the way you want it as you lean into your shot at impact.]

When your body and mind are relaxed (like the Pros who play with their mind IN THE ZONE) your rhythm will take care of the weight transfer. But it’s difficult to stay relaxed when the pressure is on for a perfect shot. Eventually you will learn to make the weight shift a natural part of your swing. It feels wonderful to finish your swing in balance on your leading foot and watching your ball land where you planned to have it land.

I can’t give all the credit for this tip to Larry Rinker as I first heard this tip when I met Andy Schwabe in the Blue Martini in Naples, FL. (He just happened to be one of the first 100 golfers who had purchased a GOLFSTR ). He showed me the same tip about 4 years ago.  Pros warn against too much pressure on your leading foot during your setup as you can lose power and direction control. So don’t put too much pressure on your leading foot to ensure that you get plenty of distance and consistent, straight drives and fairway shots.

Setup with 60% of your pressure on your leading foot and practice with a straight leading arm for more consistent, longer hits. Practice with GOLFSTR+ and buy one today at www.golfstr.com

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Whatever you do to create your swing it really appears that you need to start by getting your body and mind moving with a waggle. Starting your swing from a dead stop seems to hurt the consistency of any golfer’s swing. Just moving your hands and wrists may get your mojo running but you should consider the waggle that many of the pros are now using.

Jason Dufner seems to make his hands dance when he does his famous waggle. You don’t have to go to that extreme. You should consider what many pros are doing. A wrist or shoulder takeaway waggle may be just the thing you should be doing to create a more consistent swing. They are actually rehearsing the start of their swing.

Ever since I noticed Mike Weir (2003 Masters Champion) using his takeaway waggle, I wondered why he was using that unique type of waggle. Mike did a rehearsal of half of his backswing in slow motion. As I later learned in one of his articles he was just adding focus to the mechanics of taking his club back on his chosen plane.

Wrist Cock Waggle:
Now I’m noticing Michelle Wie and Daniel Im (US PGA pro playing in the Irish Open) are both completing a wrist waggle by cocking their wrist without rotating their shoulders or hips. They turn their wrists to point the toe of their club up to the sky (without any shoulders or hips movement). This is the exact move that they make to start their swing. Part 2 of their swing is to rotate their shoulders and hips as they lift their arms. This 2 part swing seems to give them excellent direction control.

Shoulder Waggle:
The shoulder and hip waggle (recently highlighted by the Rotary Swing Blog) is the waggle that Rickie Fowler and many others PGA Pros are using. Their waggle keeps both arms straight as they rotate their shoulders and hips as they start to cock their wrists. Their shoulders and arms stay in a TRIANGLE during their short waggle. It focuses on:
1. the shoulder rotation to generate power in your swing.
2. a wide arc by keep your leading arm straight.

I have been using the Fowler Waggle because it helps me slowdown my backswing and to avoid creating a rushed loop during my transition at the top.

Pete the pro on Golf-Info-Guide by Thomas Golf also points out that your leading arm should be straight (not rigid) throughout your backswing. Your trailing arm should be slightly bent during your setup as you are using your tailing arm to pull your leading FLAT wrist to create lag during your backswing.

The world of golf is moving from a wrist waggle to a shoulder rotation waggle to rehearse the start of their swing. That motion gets your mojo and brain locked into a consistent swing. Practice with your GOLFSTR+ to feel and learn the impact of your waggle. It will relax your swing and create a more consistent swing. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

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Golf is a game of “feel”.  You have to use a motion that is familiar to you and then transfer that feeling into a unique swing for every club in your bag. I just saw an offer where you can take 19 courses and watch 425 videos to improve your game. OMG is golf really that difficult?  Actually: Yes, but you can be successful if you simplify your setup and “feeling” for every shot.

You don’t have time to clutter your mind with thoughts during a swing which takes one (1) second.  You need to program your brain and body like a guided-missile. You only have time to “feel” the shoulder rotation, lag and release to a balanced finish. [If you rush the transition, your club will take a wild loop and lose the plane of your swing. On the 14th hole drive by Robert Streb in the Greenbrier Classic Tournament, you could see his club loop at the top, causing a “duck hook” into the bush and resulting in a bogie. Big mistake: he lost by 1 stroke.]

We all agree that Golf is not an easy sport to learn. However, you can learn to play well if you apply the following 6 simple points to every swing except putting. [Putting is another game.]

1/ Setup with a light grip to relax your wrists and arm muscles for power when you release your club. [Learn to lag your club and let your club head do the work.]

2/ Your head should stay in the same location from the setup to the point of impact. [Don’t sway back in your backswing.]

3/ If you tend to topping your ball, use the Jack Nicklaus eyeball trick. During your setup, rotate your head to the right (for right handed golfers) so that your leading eye stays focused on your ball through impact.

4/ Your shoulders (not your arms) need to start the backswing for every shot. As your shoulders rotate, your hips will follow.

5/ With your flat leading wrist and straight leading arm, the butt of your grip should be pointing down along your swing path as you reach the top of your swing. Your loose grip will let you FEEL the weight of your club, FEEL your smooth transition, LAUNCH your drives up, POWER your fairway shots through and CONTROL your chips/ pitches for more consistent hits.

6/ To start the downswing, use your hips to rotate your weight from your trailing to your leading foot. [If you can’t build this shift into your swing, then setup with more pressure on your leading foot. Eventually you will naturally learn to incorporate this weight shift during your swing.]

Putting is another ball game: Putt by rocking your shoulders to finish the swing straight up your target line. Choose your line, stare at your target for 3 seconds [AMAZING: Your brain works like a laser, some pros stare 5 seconds], return your stare to your ball and keep it there until you finish your swing. [Don’t let your eyes follow your putter head. Trust your swing.]

The pros who created these tips believe that these 6 tips will crystallize your mind to improve your game. Use them while you practice with your GOLFSTR+ to build your memory bank. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

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The fastest way to improve your game is to land more drives and iron shots on the short stuff. Yes, landing them on the fairways and greens. And you don’t need brute strength to do it. Consistently hitting your ball at 80% of my maximum swing speed and up-clubbing is only half of the solution. You really need to let the club do the work!

You need to learn to lag your club in the backswing with a light grip. When your grip is loose you can feel the weight of your club as it changes directions. The mass of the head of your club and velocity change create a heavier feeling which is caused by the club head MOMENTUM change. At that very moment, when you feel the head of the club changing direction, your hands are moving down but the club should feel too heavy to catch up to your hands. UNFORTUNATELY, MANY RECREATIONAL GOLFERS CAST THEIR CLUB WITH BRUTE FORCE BY SQUEEZING THEIR GRIP HARDER. BIG MISTAKE!

If you use “loosy goosy hands” with a flat wrist, you can simply pull down with your hands to fling the trailing club at your golf ball. Yes, you are actually throwing or releasing your club head the way you would throw a side arm pitch or fling a Frisbee. It’s that whipping action that creates the power as your club head accelerated to impact with your ball. That delay in releasing the club head is called LAG.

Try These Practice Tips:
1/ Make sure you setup by gripping with your left hand so that you can see 3 knuckles. Reduce your grip pressure. If your grip with your left hand is 50%, the grip with my trailing hand is 20%.  Learn to use your trailing hand as a guide to pull your flat leading wrist to create a 90 degree angle from your leading arm to the shaft of your club at the top of my backswing. [If you panic and rush the backswing you will not create the 90 degree lag.  Keep your mental focus on a light grip even when a gust of wind hits you or when you are hitting out of the rough. The momentum of your accelerating club head will take care of the speed and power of your hit.]

2/ Start the down swing with a forward press of your hip as you shift your foot pressure from your trailing to your leading foot. [If you are not able to make this shift of pressure, put more pressure on your leading foot during your setup and hold that forward press throughout your backswing. Over time you will learn to make the pressure shift as you reach the transition at the top of your backswing.]

3/ Practice your wrist release by reversing a club and swinging to create a whooshing sound at the point of impact. Lag and acceleration are the only way to create the speed to create the whooshing sound at the bottom of your swing [and to generate more distance].

4/ Practice the start of your downswing using a “pumping action” by pulling your hands down as you point the butt of your grip down at the ground to hold your 90 degree lag.

Focus on your loose grip and whoosh at the bottom to feel the power of your swing.

Practice with GOLFSTR+ to learn to lag with a loose grip, a flat leading wrist and a straight leading arm. These 3 steps will help you hit longer, controlled drives and fairway shots. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

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If you want to shoot low scores you’ve got to be a good putter. Pros sink 95% of their 3 foot putts, 75% of their 5 foot putts and 50% of their 8 foot putts. Reading the green, choosing the right direction and swing weight will help your minimize your 3-putt holes.  But you will never be a great putter if you can’t hit straight putts, exactly where you are aiming. You have to swing straight up your target line. Now let’s improve YOUR success rate for those 3, 5 and 8 foot putts.

One of the biggest mistakes many golfers make is pulling putts to the left (for right handed golfers). In your next round of golf, focus on putting with enough speed to pass the hole by 12 inches (the short ones never go in). Keep a record of the number of putts inside of 8 feet that you hit to the left or right of your target line. Most right handed recreational golfers will pull their putts to the left of their target line. Why?

Pulling a putt is often caused by looking up and turning your body toward the hole as you swing through the ball. This causes your shoulders to open up and forces your putter on an outside-to-in path, causing the ball to miss on the left side of your target line.

Keeping your head (and hips) still and focusing your leading eye (left eye for right handed golfers) on the ball is a common fix for golfers who struggle with this problem.

 You should be putting with a rocking motion of your shoulders. [Don’t get handsy or wristy.] Unfortunately many of us get our hips moving the same way they move when we make a full golf swing. Putting is a different swing.

Drill to Stop your Hips and Legs Moving when You Putt

On a practice green, lean a wedge at a 45 degree angle against the side of your trailing leg so that the end of the grip rests on the side of your leg. Practice 5 to 8 foot putts to determine if you can putt, by only rocking your shoulders. If your hips move, during the putting stroke, the wedge will fall off the side of your leg.

Swing Up Your Target Line
Always gripping your putter lightly with both hands and let your shoulders do all the work. To ensure that you are putting up your target line, swing your putter by rocking your shoulders and try releasing the grip with your trailing hand at the point of impact. Continue to swing your putter up your target line, only holding it with your leading hand.  This really takes practice but it sure does stop your from slicing your putts.

To help you putt by rocking your shoulders, practice putting with a locked leading wrist using your GOLFSTR+. If your putting swing is totally controlled by your shoulders, your will stop pulling putts to the left and you will sink more putts. You may never do as well as the average pro but that would be a nice goal. Sink more putts! Buy your GOLFSTR+ today at www.golfstr.com

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It’s the fine details of golf that create consistency. You may not know it but your mind and body change throughout each round of golf. That’s why a positive start for every round is so important. Just arriving at the golf course with a rested mind and limber body can make all the difference. A bad hole can spoil the rest of a round. Your success in golf is based on keeping your minds refocusing on the little details that create perfect shots. This Swing Tip gives you 3 checks to refocus your mind.

Recently I saw a friend arrive for a round of golf in a very quiet mood. He commented about his last round, shooting 79.  Unfortunately in perfect weather conditions, he shot a round of well over 101.  After his first bad shot he seemed to hit every shot long, short or wide of the target. He could not get back on track. He was uptight and out of focus.

GET BACK ON TRACK
When you are frustrated with a poor shot, you need to get your mind refocused. You need a mini check list to help you refocus. If you have not developed your own list of refocusing thoughts, why not start with this list: Grip, Eye Ball & Posture, People can buy ICU Eyewear now, which is an import eye gear.

Make Love to Your GRIP:  With Greg Norman holding the 54-hole lead in a Memorial Golf Tournament, Jack Nicklaus interrupted Norman’s dinner to give him a swing tip. “I was squeezing,” said Norman, recalling the advice. “I was holding on too long, wasn’t releasing the golf club.” Nicklaus suggested that Norman relax his grip pressure. Norman took the tip to heart and won that tournament.

Norman said, “I started a little saying within myself to make love with my hands, And if you make love with your hands, you’re actually caressing your club.” [Don’t strangle it.]

Glue Your Leading EYE BALL: If you start to top your ball, you may be lifting your head too early as you peak up to watch your ball dribble down the fairway. Try Jack Nicklaus’ favorite trick. Glue your leading eye ball on the Ball. Well, not exactly glue it, but you should slightly turn your head back during your setup so that your leading eye (left eyeball for right handed golfers) can focus on the ball. It also helps you rotate your shoulders and to transfer your weight to your leading foot during your downswing.

I love Jack’s trick but to add extra focus with your leading eye, you could close your trailing eye during your backswing (but this suggestion is not easy to do without practice). Your left and right eye have a different point of view as you can see when you see with one eye and then the other eye. Your trailing eye will see the bridge of your nose or sun glasses during the backswing. If you close your trailing eye, that visual distraction will disappear. Your mind will just focus on the ball. [This has been an amazing breakthrough in my game and I hope it will do the same for you.]

This is my favorite video of Rory McIlroy’s swing in slow motion.  The center line of his chest just rotates without swaying back in the backswing.  You should do the same.

Line-up your POSTURE:  Don’t sway back. Mike Bender noticed that many golfers sway back in their backswing for more power. Unfortunately they never get the axis of their chest back to line-up with the ball for a clean impact. [Swaying back during your back swing normally gets worse late in a round when you get tired and are searching for more power.] Keep your chest rotating and centered over your hips throughout your backswing and downswing. Use your hips to rotate your body through the ball to a balanced finish.

When your game starts going down the drain, snap out of it. Go through your mini-checklist to get back on track. Practice all 3 of these tips while your work with your GOLFSTR+ at the range. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com