Swing Solutions

Now that the US Golf Association and the R&A have killed the anchored putter, GOLFSTR has the solution!  Take the small twitching arm and wrist muscles out of the swing.  Lock your wrist during the putting stroke. Tiger did it.  Why don’t you?

Tiger is the best putter in the world.  Why not copy success.  Instead of anchoring his putter to his chest or belly he just eliminates all motion in the arms and wrists.  He simply uses his spine to rotate his shoulders and keeps his arms and wrist in a relaxed and locked triangular position.

•   Take a stance with the forward foot flared about 20 degrees, rear foot is perpendicular to his hitting line.

•  Practice with GOLFSTR mounted over your gloved hand with the curved end over your knuckles to lock your wrist in line with your forearm.  Tiger uses this straight wrist position to keep his hands slightly ahead of the ball.  His shaft angle is at 5 degrees ahead of the ball and directly in line with his wrist and forearm.  NOTE: The GOLF CHANNEL recently showed a slow motion comparison of Tiger and Rory McIlroy.  Rory starts with about a 10 degree angle, bends his wrist in the back swing to create up to a 20 degree angle bend at impact and he can’t sink a putt to save his life.

• Rock your shoulders/spine to swing your putter to practice your locked arm swing and get the feel for the right distance

•  Change the distance of the expected putt by increasing or decreasing  the length of your pendulum swing. 

• When you feel that you have the right amount of swing, step up to the ball

• Choose your perfect line 

•  Keeping your eyes focused directly on the spot where the ball is at rest, repeat the same swing as your last practice swing, pause and look up to see if you picked the right line.  Learn from any break for the next putt.

• Practice using GOLFSTR and you’ll sink ’em like Tiger in no time.

One More Tip: Mike Calbot, our technical adviser at Old Corkscrew Golf Club (Jack Nicklaus Signature Course), Ft Myers, FL locks his hands together by pointing the first finger of the gloved hand over the fingers of the lower hand.  It really works!  Practice helps too!

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[Why is it that we enjoy seeing the female form of the STRAIGHT ARM SWING?]

In recent PGA Tournaments the pros averaged 53% to 73% hitting Greens in Regulation.  Recreational golfers average well below 40% for GIR.  Chipping close to the pin and finishing the hole with one putt is critical for the weekend warriors to make par.    You really should spend more time pitching, chipping and putting if you want to get your score down.

Mike Calbot, Golf Doctor USA, developed a product called Wrist Lock to help golfers practice short range shots with a flat wrist.  When GOLFSTR  was presented to him as a training aid to keep the leading arm straight in the back swing, he immediately recommended it for use on the back of the leading wrist (or golf gloved hand).  Locking the wrist flat is so critical for consistent short range shots.  [Not very flattering but that’s Mike demonstrating with GOLFSTR on his wrist.]

Golf Tips Magazine and Revolution Golf Blog both provided recent articles covering the following points for chipping close to the hole.

1/ Take a narrow, open stance: Heels are 2 to 6 inches apart and the leading foot is moved a few inches back from the direction of the hitting line.  This give you room to swing along the target line (without bending your wrist)

2/ Weight is on the leading foot:  Shift forward so that 70% of your weight is on your leading foot to ensure that you impact with the ball before your club gets caught in the grass.

3/ Ball Back in your Stance:  Having the ball lined up with your rear heel forces you to sweep down and through the ball to finish straight up the hitting line.   Let the loft of the club do the lifting.

4/ Flat Wrist: Keeping a flat wrist prevents scooping the ball and flipping it off line.  Low back swing and low follow-through will allow you to get crisp shots at the pin.

Direction and distance are critical for this shot.   Knowing the right club to choose for the density of the grass and the distance to the pin can only be learned with practice.  You need to feel the shot and know what the loft of each club will do for you.

I thought that this series of shots from Golf Tips Magazine is a great chipping illustration.

If you enjoyed this Golf Tip, please LIKE it and spread the word.

GOLFSTR is designed to remind you to keep your leading arm straight in the back-swing and through impact for more power and consistent hits.  Best of all you can wear it while you play 18 holes as a constant reminder and watch your game improve.

Thanks to the comments from many of our customers and also from Mike Calbot, Professional Golf Swing Analyst, Master Instructor and famous golf trick shot artist at the Old Cork Screw Golf Club (a Jack Nicklaus Signature Course) in Ft. Myers, Florida we have discovered 3 more Training Aid Solutions for GOLFSTR.

GOLFSTR has 3 New Training Aid Features when mounted on your wrist and over your knuckles.

Each of these Training Aid Solutions use GOLFSTR mounted on the wrist over your golf glove with the curved end over your knuckles.  (Applies to GOLFSTR with a One Size Fits All arm band)

#2:  Flat Wrist Putting Solution:  Hinging your wrist in the putting stroke causes inconsistent control of the ball.  For consistent, straight putting strokes you need to lock your leading wrist and let your shoulders and spine rotation create the swing. 

#3:   Flat Wrist Swing Solution:  A cupped or bowed wrist on the gloved hand at the top of the back-swing causes inconsistent hits.   For straight shots with controlled trajectory your gloved hand should remain in-line with your arm.  A flat wrist keeps your club face square to the arc of the swing plane. This makes it easier to square the club face at impact for more consistent straight hits.  [The Flat Wrist Swing Solution uses GOLFSTR as a training guide and should only be used when wearing a golf glove and is intended for limited swings to recognize if you have this fatal problem.]

#4:  Chipping Solution: Cupping the leading wrist and scooping the ball at the point of impact creates mishits.  For chip shots your leading wrist should bow slightly at the point of impact and never cup to allow the head of your club to flip ahead of your leading arm.  GOLFSTR prevents you from cupping your wrist and give you more control and distance in your chips.

GOLFSTR sounds like Golf-Stir and it stands for GOLF STRaight.                                          Straight Arm = Straight Shot

Please LIKE this article to share it with your friends and spread the word about GOLFSTR.   We hope to hear about your success with these new Training Aid Solutions. 

Pro golfers achieve excellence when they are in control of their mind, body and focus.   The MIND understands the swing mechanics.  The BODY must be in shape for endurance and strength.  And your FOCUS needs to be in a relaxed state of mind.  Have you figured out how to control your FOCUS?

I was surprised to learn that success using the Straight Arm Swing depended on controlling my focus and my subconscious mind.

Your conscious mind sees the target, the ball and that irritating guy standing beside you.  But your subconscious mind is the accumulation of memories that make you bend your leading arm to swing faster for longer shots.   So how do the pros control their focus and subconscious mind?

• Tiger is a devout Buddhist who has learned to control his inner emotions and focus as he prepares for a shot and executes each swing.  He visualizes each component of the swing in slow motion.
• Jack Nicholas focuses on visualizing the trajectory of the shot.
• Rory McIlroy said that he totally blocks external thoughts.  His focus during the swing is 100% committed to the motion of his swing.
• Successful pros use sports psychologists for mind control to learn the process of relaxation and focus during their swing.

Fortunately, while golfing with a sore back I had to slow down my back-swing and the results were surprising.   A fast back-swing has little to do with the speed of the forward swing.   Now with a STRAIGHT ARM and a SLOWER, FOCUSED back-swing I have learned to reach my ideal position at the top of my swing for a smooth transition into an accelerating forward swing. 

My golf world has changed and yours can too.   Focus 100% on a  relaxed swing!  Just focus on the words ” Calm and Relaxed ” before you swing and hold that thought as you begin you slow and deliberate straight arm back-swing.

$10 Discount:  Now that GOLFSTR is about to be stocked in PGA TOUR SUPERSTORES and EDWIN WATTS GOLF STORES (south east USA) for under $30, we are offering a limited time $10 Spring Discount when you purchase on-line at www.golfstr.com  .  

CLICK TO enter your order on the STORE page and enter the coupon code:     bent elbow

Commentators during the Masters said that the long ball hitters like Dustin Johnson, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and even Fred Couples had the best advantage on the 7,435 yard Augusta course.  So why is it that a 14 year old makes the cut and wins youngest amateur in the history of the Masters? 

Every struggling recreational player should pay attention to a few details of Guan Tianlang’s game. 

On the first day he said that he was nervous on the 1^st Tee.  His drive landed dead center up the fairway.  He hit every drive as long as Ben Crenshaw, a 62 year old and PGA Tour winner (about 250 yards).  He had no 3 putt holes and only had 1 bogey and a 1 shot penalty.  He’s 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighs 150 pounds.  What’s your excuse?

To achieve this amazing feat his accuracy had to be exceptional and he has nerves of steel.  Let’s look at his swing:

-his takeaway is to the inside, [contrary to what Tiger and many of the pros are doing]

-club head is kept low in the back swing with a lagging elbow into the side, [similar to Sergio Garcia’s power plane swing] 

-his leading arm is dead straight from takeaway to transition at the top and all the way through impact. 

CLICK HERE for a 31 second slo mo video of Guan’s swing.  

The moral of this story is straight arm, practice and take control of your mind.

Check out next week’s Swing Tips about body, mind and soul, with emphasis on “soul” and your subconscious mind.  Why do you think the pros hire sports psychologists?  We have a break through for you.

Swing Tips are free from GOLFSTR  to build interest throughout the world.  We appreciate your support.

If you enjoyed this article please select LIKE to help others improve their game too.

About 50% of golfers swing a golf club with a bent leading arm!   This appears to be the #1 swing flaw.  The National Golf Foundation  estimates that only 25% of golfers break 90.  A straight leading arm in the back swing and through impact will really help you consistently break 90.

If you watched the Masters, you saw that the pros keep their leading arm straight for more power and consistent connection with the ball. If it was easy you would have done this long ago. 

The key to improving your swing is to first learn the correct swing (video below).  Then you need to continuously repeat this straight arm swing as you practice and as you play (when the pressure is on). 

CLICK HERE for Video: Right Way to Keep Your Left Arm Straight by Golf Info Guide at ThomasGolf.com 

It’s not easy to make the change and that’s why GOLFSTR is such an important brain trainer to help you repeat a successful swing.  It helps you build muscle memory.  So warm up your swing before each round with GOLFSTR and practice with it on the golf course TO KEEP YOUR MIND FOCUSED on the straight arm swing.

The pros make it look easy:   Straight Arm – Straight Shot.

Watching Tiger in the Masters proves that he is back on his game thanks to Steve Stricker and Sean Foley.  What exactly did Steve do for Tiger’s putting and what has Sean done for Tiger’s driving setup?  It’s amazing to see that the following 2 adjustments can make all the difference for Tiger. {Now he needs training to hit approach shots 2 inches to the right of the flag pole.  It would have won him the Masters.}

One thing for sure is that Tiger has a consistent hit with his Straight Leading Arm.

Putting tip from Steve Stricker:  He noticed that Tiger’s putting grip was “strong” and that “his hands were behind the ball”.   Steve said “Just tried to get him set up in a better position where he could feel like he could accelerate down through the line a little bit.”   It appears that he weakened Tiger’s right hand by rotating it slightly toward the front of the putter.  This allows him to putt along his intended line.

Foley gave him Better Balance in his setup: The professionals see that Tiger now puts 60% of his pressure on the balls of his feet and 40% on the heel.  A relaxed balance is so important at setup.  This only makes sense because we lean forward to grip the club.    

So this is what seems to be working for Tiger and may help the recreational golfer but give yourself a shake.  I just got woken up by a 90 year old gentleman in Delray Beach, FL (wise beyond his years) who called about buying GOLFSTR.  He wanted a GOLF SWING TRAINING AID that reminded him to keep his leading left arm straight in the back-swing.  He said “I don’t want paralysis by analysis”. He was so right.

Use the KISS method: Keep it Simple Stupid.  Straight leading arm, hinge the wrists, smooth transition and swing with a lag from the inside, down the target line to a photo finish.

Why didn’t I think of that?

Straight arm and straight shot are your starting points but the goal is distance in the right fairway.  Bent elbow in the back-swing is caused by your desire to swing harder for more distance.  Unfortunately you need to walk before you run.  Get the swing right and the power and distance will come.

GOLFSTR is just a learning device to improve muscle memory for your straight arm swing.  Your swing will never improve unless you commit to change.   You can take lessons at wonderful training centers like GolfTEC  where some of the instructors are training their students with GOLFSTR.  Golf  is really fun when you learn to swing like a pro, so why don’t you commit to change right now.

Golf is a game of basics.  You need to learn the grip, stance and the right way to line a ball up.   The right swing gives you the mechanics to generate speed and distance.  It boils down to these key components:

1/ Relaxed muscles in the shoulders, arms and grip. [if 10 is tight, 4 is where you want to be.]

2/ Leading arm straight in the backs-swing and down through impact.  [GOLFSTR is just the reminder and that’s why we call it the brain trainer.]

3/ Cadence to allow a smooth transition at the top as you press your leading leg to trigger the swing.  [use a moderate arm speed in the back-swing and transition  BEFORE you start to accelerate – – – just think of Ernie Els]

4/ Distance comes from LAG which is delaying the release of the hinged wrists:  This allows a whip action of the club head as you swing from the inside through impact. (like snapping your wrist to skip a stone across water)

5/ Finish in balance and facing your target.  By not rushing the arms at the transition, you have time to rotate your body starting with your hips and then your shoulders through to a balance finish

Now watch the video on this page which shows an amazing slow motion video of  Rory McIlroy’s swing. (CLICK HERE)  

For more tips return to YOUR Swing Support Center  /category/blog/

Sure the pros use muscle and technique but I’m talking to you, the mid to high handicapper.  The more frustrated we get with a round of golf, the harder and faster we swing and the worse the result.   Muscle is not the answer.  Your biggest problem is the muscle between your ears.

Accept the fact that you are not qualifying for the pro tour.   A 250 yard drive in the center of your fairway is so much better than a 300 yard drive which lands in the trees or in the next fairway.  The GOAL is to get your game under control and to break that next milestone of 100, 90, or 80.

As a starting point most men have larger frames and more muscle than most of the LPGA players or a 130 pound junior.  So why is it that these skilled players can hit a drive consistently over 250 yards without any effort?   Of course, they have great technique.

They focus on weight transfer, lag and wrist release: ALL WITH A STRAIGHT LEADING ARM in the back-swing and through impact.  [GOLFSTR can help you here. ]   And swing through the ball to a BALANCED photo finish.

• Hitting the ball farther is affected more by club head speed than brute force
• Gain more speed by improving your wrist release through impact
• Practice by holding a club upside down (you can create your loudest whooshing noise by  releasing your wrists at the bottom of the swing)

Weight needs to be shifted to the leading leg at impact so start the arm transition at the top of the swing with a slight weight shift or hip bump to the left.

Lag is considered the holy grail of the golf swing. Golfing greats such as Ben Hogan and Sergio Garcia have had tremendous amounts of lag that allowed them to hit the ball great distances with relatively little effort.  You can do it too.  [Check out my last blog about Hogan.]

Next Thursday’s Blog is on INCREASING DRIVING DISTANCE