Golfing News & Blog Articles

I created this site and these blogs to help my readers improve their games and hopefully spread the word about GOLFSTR+. I have grown my reader base to about 500 and sold over 6,000 GOLFSTR+ Training Aids so I must have been doing something right. Unfortunately I suffered a mini stroke on May 33 and lost my focus to continue my weekly blogs. [I have been writing these blogs every week since 2012, that’s over 624 blogs.] It is a great disappointment to end this site and these blogs.

I have recovered significantly from my stroke but it has taken me over an hour to figure out how to log into this site. I could not believe that I had forgotten my site access and password but it all finally came back. I just felt it was time to explain my absence. I now realize that I am not the same person that I was before my stroke. My tennis game has gone downhill as I can’t see he ball clearly and coordinate my impact point. My golf scores have gone up as my approach shots and putting are rusty from a significant reduction in play. BTW my drivers license is still suspended so I have to depend on driving to any course with friends.

Long story, short: the stroke was just the start of my wakeup. On the day of my stroke, I played a tennis match against a doctor who tried to do a quick diagnosis of my problems over the tennis net. He recommended that I go directly to the hospital but I finished playing our match (and lost 6-2, 6-2). That doctor was in much better shape and 10 years younger than me. He died from a massive heart attack while biking about 2 months later. That was an other wakeup call for me. I’m glad that I dodged my bullet.

I have shut down my GOLFSTR+ Training Aid company: Innovation Unlimited Inc.; ended my club memberships; sold all of our physical assets and I’m moving with my wife to Cape Town, South Africa to live with our son’s family (including 2 grand kids). Yes, this is a shocking change for us and all of our friends.

I hate to end these blogs but will have more time to write a book using all of the wonderful ideas covered in my past 624 blogs. Don’t worry I will only include the best ideas because they were paying off for many of our readers and I want to share them with you in a unique golf guide which will be customized for YOU. How will I do this? Stay tuned. You will be on the launch list when I get it published.

Direction Accuracy and Distance Control are the most important aspects that you need to break 80 in every round. We all know this, so why do we miss so many important shots? Instead of paying attention to the basics our minds wonder. We focus on the shot that a pro would make. We put a lot more power into the swing to clear water or sand traps when we should be laying up and chipping to 3 feet. This game would be so easy if we just play with a comfortable swing and the following basics.

In an article by Zephyr Melton in Play Smart on the GOLF.com blog I found the basics that “Joe Durant used in order to be among the straightest drivers in golf history.” . During his peak performance years his driving accuracy was between 75% and 82%. The following 3 points were key for his success.

Check Your Lines: You have to check your setup to line up your shot. He used alignment sticks to pick his direction and the square of his feet to his target line. He would imagine that he had alignment sticks through his shoulders, hips and feet and set them up parallel to each other.Use Alignment Sticks: When Durant hits shots on the range, he kept two alignment sticks on the ground in front of him. One was inside his ball, while the other was parallel to it just outside the ball. He was trying to make sure that his foot line was parallel to the inside pole. The outer pole was a guide for his club swing plane. If he could take his club along the same path on the takeaway, he knew he was in good shape.Tee It Low: Generating as much distance as possible is a popular strategy among pros these days, and that usually involves teeing it high and swinging up on the ball. But when you want to promote accuracy, it’s in your best interest to tee it low. It helps you take spin off your ball.
When he was under pressure, he teed it lower to squeeze it out there with a fade for better control. Overpowering the ball was never good for his shots.
Practice with GOLFSTR+ to control the flat of your leading wrist and elbow for more consistent hits. Joe Durant recommended controlling your direction and your power to limit the spin on your drives. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Most courses are designed to destroy shots within 75 yards of the green. If you can’t hit a perfect shot to land on the green the course designers make you pay for your poor shot by landing in water, sand or on a steep pitch beside or over the green. Hitting a great shot to land in the perfect location for your approach shot will save more strokes.

Bobby Jones said that the easiest way to lower your score is to turn 3 shots into 2. One difficult missed shot can easily turn 2 approach shots into 3 or more shots (depending on the level of your anger).
The most important
One of the most important tips that I received from a scratch golfer was to plan for your preferred approach shot. He did this by developing a consistent carry distance for his wedge from 100 yards. (The total distance is frustrating because it includes the rollout depending on backspin and the contour of each green.) On a par 4 or par 5 he would always lay up to 100 yards. Using this commitment, it give me the focus to hit more Greens In Regulation and save a lot of strokes.

1/ Break 85 by eliminating penalty strokes (including sand traps, trees and water). Try these tips for a more controlled hit for your approach shot from the ideal location and distance.
• Tee the ball lower for more control.
• Move the ball slightly back in your stance
• Choke down on your grip
• Use cruising speed versus your full speed. A pause at the top my your solution to slow down your transition.

2/ Know your Carry Distance as you can never trust the ground to increase your Total Distance

3/ Sink more short putts by practicing 3, 4 and 5-foot putts. Practice to hit past the hole by 1 or 2 feet so that you eliminate any imperfections at the hole as well as the increasing amount of break as your ball slows down.

When you understand that there are 2 arcs in every golf swing and low points in each arc, you will have a better chance to control direction and shape for every shot. This may sound a little confusing, but your club is swinging with a Target-Arc up your target line as well as a Body-Arc wrapping around your body. Its your job to sort out what is happening with the position of YOUR body at the Low Point with each arc on every swing. Use your practice swing to determine your low point before you move forward to your ball. First we are looking at iron swings.

Target-Arc (swinging up your target line)
Danny Maude was the inspiration for this blog as he described the bottom of the swing arc as either FORWARD, CENTERED or BEFORE the ball:
-FORWARD is typical for High Handicappers who bottom the arc 1 to 4 inches beyond the ball.
-CENTERED for Low Handicap Players bottoming the arc at the ball position.
-BEFORE for Professionals who bottom their arc 1 to 4 inches before impact.

Recommendation: If your body is out of sync with your Target-Arc, setup with your leading knee slightly bent to ensure that the bottom of your swing arc happens before you impact your ball to compress it before you take any divot.

Body-Arc (swinging around your body)
Right handed players impacting the ball before the low point, will push the ball to the right. Impacting it after the low point will pull the ball to the left. A closed or open face at the point of impact will add more motion to a draw or a fade and turn them into a hook or a slice.

The bottom of your arc is normally below your leading armpit so you can’t afford to allow your body to sway back during your backswing and freeze-up in that position during your downswing. That’s why you need a consistent tempo throughout your swing so that your body can recover with your follow-through.

Sports Illustrated blog GOLF.COM published an interesting article by Nick Dimengo last week about the shot you need to score well in every round of golf that you play. Of course, every shot counts but a good drive landing in the fairway gives you the chance to par or birdie every hole.

Control Your Swing Path
If you’re a slicer, lining up for a slice is a bad solution. To break 80, you have to eliminate your slice and avoid lost balls and balls going out of bounds. Swinging over-the-top, causes the clubface to open-up and cut across as it impacts the golf ball.

One drill that Dimengo found really helpful is to draw a line on your golf ball — similar to what you’d do to line up putts. Instead of pointing this line straight at the target, point it a little out to the right (for right-handed golfers). This is the path that you want to swing on.

Line-up your feet square to your target line and close your shoulders in line with the line on your ball. That’s the direction that you want to swing into the ball to create a straight or a draw shot. That’s going to keep your upper body closed to the target and get you to swing a little bit more from the inside.

Shallow Your Swing Path
To ensure that you are swinging from the inside for your driver as well as your iron shots, flatten your leading wrist during your backswing so that your trailing elbow will stay close to your side during your downswing. This process was not in Demingo’s article but I find that it forces my swing to come from the inside and across the ball.

If you can eliminate mishits and stupid shots I guarantee that you will break 90 during every round that you play. It’s really easy, just chose the correct club and keep all of your shots in the fairway. Hitting greens in regulation and misjudging your putts are the primary reason why its NOT EASY to break 80 or 70 . Weekend Warriors should be focusing on the elimination of Mishits and Stupid Shots to break 90.

The more time you spend practicing and playing golf with the proper swing, the better will be your chance of eliminating mishits. You may not see pros mishitting shots on TV as the producers focus on the perfection of the low scoring leaders. The higher scoring laggards are make their share of mishits and struggling to recover from the rough.

Mishit Elimination
By mishits, I’m referring to hooking and slicing your ball as well as missing the center of your club face (for toe or housel hits), topping it and hitting it fat or thin. We all make some of these shots but our goal is to eliminate or minimize them. Why not try:
-Using a consistent shot routine to improve your mental approach to golf.
–Practice with GOLFSTR+ to learn a straight arm backswing with a flat wrist for a square impact to eliminate slices, hooks, thin and fat shots.
–Plan to hit shorter shots, so that your 3rd shot on every par 4 will chip close to the hole.
-Be more strategic to miss every sand trap and pond on the course.
–Select one club lower in loft so that you can swing at 80% with MORE control.

Stupid Shot Elimination
By Stupid shots I am referring to avoiding those shots that have a 60% chance that they will get your next shot in trouble. It really is easy to hit a chip shot out of a poor lie or to aim a safe shot into the fairway instead of hitting up a tree line or between 2 trees. Hitting 200 yards over a pond is often a poor decision. You can always recall the poor shots that you should never have tried at the end of each round. Why not finish rounds shooting under 90 and enjoy the success of playing smart.

Don’t get frustrated and follow a poor shot with a Stupid Shot. The same thing holds true for putting. Ben Hogan said, “A shot that goes in the cup is pure luck, but a shot to within two feet of the flag is skill”. Be happy with your close misses and make sure that you sink the next putt.

We all love to watch the Major Golf Tournaments for the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Of the 4 Majors, The Open Championship at Royal Troon is by far the most challenging because of those crazy pot bunkers, wild greens, the spiny gorse bushes, the ocean winds, cold fog & rain and that out of bounds railway track on the 11th hole.

What can we learn from the 2024 event to improve our games? Avoid the major golf courses in Great Britain? They are a challenge for the pros so you just may not enjoy playing there. Playing the forward tees will help but that won’t get you out of trouble.

World Class Golfers Missed the Cut
It is amazing how many top golfers missed the cut at +6. Seeing the names of the rejects will reinforce how hard this course was: Bryson DeChambeau (+9) Rory McIlroy (+11 with only 3 birdies and 10 bogeys or worse after 2 rounds), Tiger Woods (+14), Wyndham Clark (+16). Ernie Els and John Daly each dropped out after their first rounds shooting 82.

Golf Tips
I could not believe how Rory and Tiger both hit a booming slice OB on the #11 railway hole. So many other pros make the same disastrous slice. These are pros and they know how to hit a slice and how NOT to hit a slice especially in a heavy wind. How could this possibly happen? Guess that explains why all golfer have occasional surprising slices.

Could it be nerves? I don’t think so as they were on their eleventh hole.
Could it be the wind? It certainly made the slice worse, but their swing caused the slice.
Swinging hard for distance was the cause: They were both hitting 300+ yard drives so they had to make a 100% swing. Let that be a lesson to all of us. The harder we swing, the easier it is to leave our club face open and pound a screaming slice. [Rory hit a duck hook for his provisional and Tiger hit a beautiful straight recovery shot.]

Golf is an impossible game played with clubs that swing in an arc on terrain that is rarely flat, so how can SQUARE create perfection? As it turns out SQUARE is the new buzzword in golf. And that is why it is so difficult to figure out. We all struggle to create an impact with our golf ball in the split second when our club face is exactly square to the ball.

When you watch a high-speed video of a club impacting a golf ball, you can see that the ball is partially flattened during the point of impact. That flat surface controls the direction of your ball. So your swing path on the flattened surface of your ball is the critical factor in creating a square impact on your ball.

Setup Perfection
Ideally you should setup with a perfectly square alignment (shoulders, hips and toes) on a flat surface with no prevailing wind. Your setup position will create straight hits by using a swing that allows you to follow-through in the direction of your club face. Tiger Woods can actually feel the face of his club throughout his swing as if it’s happening in a super slow motion.

You will never hit enough golf balls to duplicate the emotions and feel for your swing that Tiger and so many other professional golfers do. But you can learn to setup with your ball in a proper position and hold your club in a square position to your ball so that you can execute your swing to your identical square setup position with the following adjustments:

Adding draw or fade spin only requires a slight adjustment for your club face direction but your impact should still be square to your ball.Identify the best ball position for your natural swing with each of your clubs. Impact the ball before taking any divot or starting your upswing with your driver (off your leading toe).Adjust for wind speed by selecting the correct club to compensate for distance.Modify your stance and shoulders to offset the slope of the ground that you are standing on.Putting is so much easier if as your slow swing is easier to control to impact your ball squarely on the center line of the face of your putter.Choosing the correct target line for each putt is the most critical issue but a SQUARE impact is still the key factor for putting perfection.

Don’t let one hand overpower your swing and cause an early rotation of YOUR SQUARE club face. Build confidence in your swing by practicing these tips with GOLFSTR+ at the driving range. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Stubbing a chip has got to be the most frustrating shot in golf next to missing a 3 foot putt (the way Rory McIlroy did at the US Open). We cover so much ground with our driver and irons and then waste so many shots when we try to finish our hole with a weak short game. Why is this so difficult? Sort out the right technique and you will save 10 to 18 strokes by hitting more one putt greens on every round.

Choose the Right Club for the Right Job;
Mid to High handicap golfers get frustrated hitting fat chips that often only dribble up to the green, so as an easy fix you may choose a putter to make your short approach shots. Choosing a putter to hit from off the green is the loser’s choice.
a. The grass surface is typically rough so you can’t control the direction with your putter.
b. Your mind is tuned into swinging your putter on the faster putting surface of the green . It’s extremely difficult to change your mental outlook when putting from off the green. You will most likely putt short or well past the hole.

When you are off the green use the right lofted wedge to clear the rugged grass, land on the green and roll to the hole. LEARN to use a wedge by practicing and using the right technique.

When pitching from off the green and especially on an uphill lie, practice for consistent success and to learn the flight and roll out for each of your lofted clubs.

Technique for Pitching Success up to 25 Yards:
At address, center the ball between your feet, position your chest forward of the ball (don’t think weight forward), think chest forward, allow your shaft to tilt forward and lift your club head slightly off the ground. From there, you should feel like you’re making an extended putting stroke.

Today I received 2 blogs from amazing golf instructors who made opposite recommendations for your backswing and both claimed that you will get longer drives. As it turned out, they both may be correct, but I will bet that more Weekend Warriors will benefit more from a limited backswing than a longer, faster backswing.

Hank Haney recommends that you will hit your drives longer if you take a longer, faster backswing (even with a bent leading elbow) and a faster downswing. His logic is that your longer backswing will allow you to make a faster downswing. You will gain 2.5 yards for every mile per hour of impact speed. This fact has been proven under test lab conditions with “Iron Byron”, an electronic driver testing machine.

Danny Maude’s blog helped a student gain about 40 yards by limiting his straight leading arm backswing and generating a square clubface hit on the ball for a huge gain in yardage by eliminating a banana slice. The slice was killing his distance. The limited backswing allowed his student to control his drive directly up his target line for a lot more distance.

The problem with a longer faster backswing and downswing is that mid to high handicap golfers who try to swing faster will inevitably swing across the ball causing a horrible slice and send more balls into never-never-land. You will find that you can hit more balls in the fairway and longer than your normal attempts if you swing with a flat wrist, straight arm and a limited backswing (at about 1/3rd of a John Daly swing.)

As your confidence improves you will gain a lot more distance as you increase rotation of your hips and shoulders in your backswing. Then you can increase the speed of your backswing to build in wrist lag at the top and catapult your clubhead in the downswing to add even more speed AND DISTANCE ( as recommended by Hank Haney).

Over the years we have seen amazing performances by Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods GOAT-(Greatest Of All Time) and now the new blood like Scottie Scheffler perform at a level so much better than other golfers. As they age their skills drop off but we should all learn to enjoy golf with the energy and skills that we have learned. Don’t let anger over a missed shot kill your game.

Bad Breaks Should not Kill Your Next Shot
Bad breaks, like hitting a branch or landing in a trap happen. Yes it would have been nice to miss those problems but there is nothing you can do to change the result. What you can change is the reaction for your next shot. Great golfers don’t swing their club in disgust. They step back, appraise their mistake, make the right practice swing and get ready for the next shot. They move on mentally with a fresh frame of mind.

Let Your Hands and Club do Their Work
Your hands make or break your next shot. They need to square your club face and add speed to the release through impact. Flatten your wrists in the backswing to shallow and square your club face with the plane of the back of your hand. Relax your wrists at the top of your swing to let your club add lag that will release with a whipping action AND SPEED at the bottom of your swing.

Scottie Creates Relaxation During his Pre-shot Routine
He plans his shot and then moves into a CALM MIND AND BODY to execute the shot that he wants. Whether he is driving, launching an iron or putting he visualizes the path that he wants his ball to take before he executes his swing. He know what he wants and can do.

Make the Best of a Bad Lie and Hit Shots that You have Practiced
Learn from the reaction that you saw so many pros take throughout their games at Pinehurst #2. Scottie’s game was not great during the US Open but he kept a “good head” and was able to bounce back on many holes. Build confidence with shots that you know you can make.

Just when we thought that Scottie Scheffler had the magic solution for excellence in golf, his world came crashing down. On the second day of the US Open he just made the cut and we were shocked. We found out that he’s human after all. There really is hope for every struggling golfer. We should all learn from some of the comments and performance at the US Open.

Most golfers will never play #2 Pinehurst as it really is designed to humble any golfer who takes on the challenge. Watching how the pros handle their commitment to their game is the most important thing that we can all take away from this amazing golf event.

Scottie’s Weak Putting Performance:
Even before the start of the US Open, Scottie Scheffler was outside of the top 70 professional golfers for strokes gained in putting. In spite of his seemingly weaker putting performance, he still has an amazing winning record. OUR TAKEAWAY: His performance in other skills like fairways hit, scrambling, greens in regulation, sand saves and one putt greens are enough to keep him at the top of his sport. DON’T LET ONE WEAKNESS DESTROY YOUR MENTAL OUTLOOK.

Positive Attitude:
Roger Federer was a top tennis player who won 80% of the games that he played but he only won 54% of the points. OUR TAKEWAY: The top performer wins by the slimmest of margins. Attitude and Confidence can put you over the top in every sport.

Stay Focused:
Jack Nicklaus commented at his Memorial Tournament that Rory’s inability to win majors over the past 10 years: “He seems to not be able to focus all the way around.” When commenting on Scottie’s success: “He doesn’t make dumb mistakes.” OUR TAKEAWAY: Jack was right about Rory’s focus (when he missed 2 short putts) to lose the US Open and for Scottie: you are only as good a your next shot so keep your head in the game.

You will never be good at any shot unless you practice a consistent swing that performs well for you. This is pretty basic stuff. Most golfers spend too much time on the range swinging with their driver. Unfortunately, golf is a game played with every club in your bag and each one can hurt or benefit your game every time you play.

Tennis is a lot like golf when it comes down to hitting any shot. Technique is critical but you need to perfect various types of serves, forehand shots and backhand shots to be a great tennis player. To improve my game, I took a single lesson to learn the proper serve as it seemed to be the most critical shot similar to being able to hit a great drive.

I was fortunate to have courts in a park next to our house so I would regularly practice serves using buckets of balls at least 4 days every week. Unfortunately, as a single player practicing my serve the rest of my game suffered.

Reading an article by an editor at GOLF.COM, I realized that his golf game suffered the same fate. His drives and full swing approach shots were great but he could not make chips and flop shots around the green. His friends complimented his game and said, “Its too bad he couldn’t score well”. That set him on fire with determination to clean up his game.

Solution
He learned to trust the bounce for each of his lofted clubs. His old habit was to close the face of his wedges to keep the ball lower to control his shots. When he saw the success that he was having with his open-faced lob shots, his game turn around. Consistent practice allowed him to build confidence for each angle of his lofted clubs so that he could roll or stick his chip and flop shots.

Sports Illustrated’ s weekly blog: GOLF.com, recently had a great idea to improve our games. Just set some achievable positive goals before every round. That will help you enjoy your great shots and disregard your worm burners and shanks without setting a grenade off in your butt.

The enjoyment of golf is about setting goals that bring you energy and fun. When you’re having more fun you’re in a happy place. Ben Hogan, one of the greatest champions in the history of the game, said he was happy to hit just one or two perfect shots per round. He said that everyone — from high-handicappers to scratch players — would be wise to play the game that way.

Julie Elion is a mental-game guru, who reminded us of Bobby Jones’ quote: “Golf is a game that’s played on a five-inch course — the distance between your ears,” She found that the mind is the most daunting hazard out there on any course.

Set Your Goals
Julie helps golfers identify their personal goals before every event. The most common theme is CONSCIOUS POSITIVE INTENTIONS. All it takes is a simple message — distilled into a few easy-to-remember lines. Positive goals play better than those who play with fear of negative outcomes. An obsessive insight and analysis about a problem seldom results in a winning putt. Focus on your target Negative thoughts based on avoidance cause a bad case of energy drain.

Knowledge of a relevant hazard is useful, but it’s not a goal. Positivity is paramount. Elite athletes, like Scottie Scheffler with an optimal mental attitude are the ones who end up pulling away from the pack.

Every shot in your game can be corrected with a consistent tempo. Every club in your bag is a different weight and different length to accommodate your shots of different distances. Your driver, fairway woods, hybrids and irons all have different contact points with the ground during your swing. For a consistent impact (with each club), you need a consistent tempo, for your backswing and downswing.

Golf is a simple game if you can only control your mind and point of impact with every club.

Tom Watson said that he controls his tempo by saying the word “Edelweiss” for every swing in his game.

I like to use the phrase “One annd Two” where Two is the start of my downswing to a balance finish.

Calm yourself down by choosing the right club to make your shot and then lining up your shot before you move to your stance beside your ball.

No two golfers have the identical golf swing so you should be able to make minor adjustments to accommodate your physical limitations. We all suffer from past injuries and different strength in every muscle in our bodies. So, it only makes sense that you should be able to take corrective action by changing your foot pressure, shoulder tilt or ball position during setup. Only you can test out your best setup to create more success for your game.

Lee Travino came up with this tip to fix topped balls, thin shots and fat shots. If you are consistent in hitting your mishits, this tip may be the best way to take corrective action.

If you are topping the ball, just move your ball back a few inches in your stance when you setup. Take a full practice swing to see exactly where you are first touching the grass. Your goal is to impact the ball just before you take any divot.

If you are hitting thin shot (worm burners), use the same correction as topping the ball. You may also be standing too far from the ball. Move an inch closer to the ball and lineup some extra tees inside or outside of your ball to see the result from your swing. You may also want to arch your back (belly in and bum out). Holding this position from setup to impact will keep your club face at the same point through impact.

Hitting it fat (taking turf before you hit the ball) is one of the most common swing problems. Too many golfers sway back in their backswing and never recover by shifting from their trailing foot to their leading foot as they start their downswing.
-Moving the ball back in your stance will give you a better chance to hit the ball first but it is really a dumb correction.
-Stop trying to kill the ball. Your backswing is pulling your body away from your ball and your downswing is not giving your body time to shift back over the ball.
-SOLUTION: Slow down your backswing as you keep your nose over your ball and swing down through the ball without shifting your head.

I was blown away by a tip that allow us to naturally shallow our downswing. Of course, shallowing your downswing prevents you from coming over the top and slicing the ball. Too many thoughts will always mess up your swing so you can’t afford to be thinking about each motion that should naturally happen in your down swing. You need one thought to focus on.

David Leadbetter keeps releasing blogs about the first foot of your takeaway in order to sell his miracle training aid. But if you setup with your leading elbow rotated and pointing down your target line, it is very natural to start your takeaway with a flat leading wrist and a straight leading elbow as you turn your hips and shoulders in your back swing.

Clearing Your Hip Starts the Chain Reaction up to Your Shoulders
As long as you take time to add wrist lag at the top, it will also give you time to press forward on your leading leg as you start to CLEAR YOUR HIP. By starting the pressure shift to your leading leg you will also start your powerful downswing.
a. Pressure on your leading leg will help you drop your trailing shoulder.
b. That shoulder drop will shallow your club head (to avoid an over the top swing)
c. This starts a chain reaction to rotate your hip and then your shoulders
d. And finally to drop your straight leading arm to power through the ball
e. And finish in balance on your leading foot and leg.

Your ONLY Swing Thought
Your setup with a proper ball position and leading elbow position is completed before you start your backswing. Your only swing thought is to slow your backswing (by counting ”1 annd 2”) to let the forward pressure on your leading leg start your down swing during your transition at the top.

Your pressure forward starts the chain reaction from the ground up. Of course, you need to swing to a finish in balance on your leading foot but should happen naturally. Every pro finishes that way and that part needs to be burned into your mind.

Using your putter as a plumb bob to determine the break near the hole will cut strokes from your game. Unfortunately, too many golfers try to plumb bob from behind their ball and without a calibrated putter. Those mistakes result in more missed putts.

Gravity and your clubs are the only tools that you can legally use to determine the slope of a green. Plumb bobbing only helps you understand the slope of the green where your feet are standing. For any putt, your ball will bend more with the slope of the green as it slows down near the hole. That’s why you need to plumb bob with your calibrated putter on a line from BEHIND THE HOLE and back to your ball.

Calibrate Your Putter
Every putter head has a different weight, and every shaft has a different taper. Calibrate your putter by standing 6 to 10 feet away from any door frame and letting your putter hang freely from your fingertips. Close one of your eyes and rotate the face of your hanging putter until one side of the shaft lines up with the door frame. [ RECORD the eye that you used, the side of your shaft (NOT INCLUDING THE GRIP) and the putter face orientation.]

Use Your Putter as a Plumb Bob to Determine the High Side Near the Hole

-Stand on the line behind the hole so that you can see the hole in-line with your ball.-Hang your putter shaft in front of you to line up the hole near the bottom of your shaft.–The top of your shaft will line up on the high side of your ball so that’s the high side of the slope near your hole.-The greater the gap from your shaft edge to your ball, to greater the slope and the faster your ball will break down to the hole.

If there is a significant double or triple break on the green leading to the hole, you need to consider what those breaks will do when your ball is rolling at a higher speed where the slope will have less impact. Plumb bobbing will only help you determine the slope near the hole. If you can see an obvious slope near the hole, DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME PLUMB BOBBING.

I have seen too many poor golfers who try to cut or hook their putts with the face of their putter. Your putter face may have up to a 3% tilt to start your ball rolling over and only on a straight line. By adding to the complexity of a swing where you add a curve to your putt is a crazy idea. We all need to use the KISS principle. Keep It Simple Stupid!

Your Starting Point
A student asked: “How do I sink long putts?” The pro replied: “Take a chipping lesson”. It’s so true. Chipping it close for a 1-putt green should be the goal of every Weekend Warrior. Just chip to 3 feet and sink the putt. What could be easier?

Your Putting Goal
Putting is the easiest stroke in golf, so you have no excuse but to make it the best part of your game. You will sink more putts when you commit to a target and only rock your shoulders and torso to send your ball at your chosen target point. Practice putting by locking your wrist with GOLFSTR+.

Scottie Scheffler is the best example of a great putter:
a. Lift and Set: After he considers the slope of the green and lines up his putt, he always lifts his putter directly in front of his face and sets his hands with a conventional grip so that there is no gap from the palm of his hands to his grip.
b. Line-up His Putter: He recently changed putters to a TaylorMade Spider X mallet style head with a bold line extending along the center line on the crown of his putter. His caddy said that it gives him more confidence for a square line-up from his putter on his target line.

Understand the slope: Look at the slope from behind the hole and back to your ball as well as the side view from below your putting line. Determine your feel for the break based on testing the putting speed and breaks on the practice green.

We are all impressed with Scottie Scheffler’s confidence and consistency. Both traits are something that we all need to strive for in our games. Scottie is averaging 75% of Greens Hit in Regulation (GIR). That’s 10% better than the tour average. He also shanks the occasional shot, but his mental recovery is instantaneous. You may never achieve his success, but you should add this challenge to your game.

Mind Control
We are all human and we all make mistakes in life and in our rounds of golf. When you make a bad swing, you know it instantly and may drop your club in your follow-through. That’s an indication that your reaction is out of control. You know it and you also know that you are allowing your mind to possibly destroy your next shot and your round of golf. Focus on letting your reaction be the start of your NEW and Improved mental reaction.

A shank or a mishit should be your wakeup call. Calm down and shake it off for your next shot. Scottie Scheffler just lets it go and so does Tiger. It’s a decision that they make. A mistake is in the past and there is nothing that you can do to change it. Take a deep breath and move on with a relaxed attitude to slow down and take a full backswing for an improved swing and to finish the hole with a reasonable score.

Improve Your GIR’s
You may never achieve what Scottie does with his Greens In Regulation but you will improve your game if you commit to marking your score card and counting your GIR’s in every round. Your focus on improving your GIR’s will improve your game.

Your Alternate Plan
A secondary plan should focus on your 1-putt greens. You may never approach the skill of hitting 75% of your GIR’s but you can improve your chipping to get them within 4 feet of the hole. Too many missed chips should be a wakeup call to change your chipping technique. Why not change your full swing chip to a putting stroke with a lofted club (putt-chipping)? A putting stroke is so much easier than a full chipping swing.