Golfing News & Blog Articles

I hope you enjoyed watching the WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play as much as I did. Most of the early televised matches were very close so every hole won or lost was critical for each player. There were a number of international players who added to the suspense. I always found myself rooting for one of the players in every match. Typically I found myself rooting for the underdogs and they surprisingly came out on top.

There were 8 playoffs at the end of Round 3 to eliminate a number of players from the 64 player field. In those playoffs 7 of the 8 matches were won by the underdogs. The #3 seed, Jon Rahm, was the only low seeded player to win his playoff.

One of the most exciting matches was between Bryson DeChambeau (#5- the giant killer) who was booming every drive against one of the smallest players in the field, an Englishman, Tommy Fleetwood (#22). Tommy was leading the match by 1 over Bryson going into the 18th hole. Both shot long tees shots (328 and 338 yards) but both landed in trouble in the rough.

Tommy landed his tee shot on a patch of grass in a creek where he had an impossible stretched-out stance with low hanging branches leaving a gap between himself and the hole (at least 20 feet above his location). He had a clear 69 yard shot to the hole but he realized that a low shot up hill would either hit the low hanging branches or never stop as it passed over the green. Adding to the pressure, Bryson had a clear up hill shot to the hole. Losing the hole to Bryson would result in a playoff.

Tommy Took his Medicine
Tommy realized that he had 3 more shots to tie the hole and win the match only if Bryson played a poor chip and then missed his birdie putt. Tommy “took his medicine” to miss the low hanging branches and pitched 91 yards to the rough on the other side of the green but away from the tree. He landed his chip about 8 feet from the hole and sank his par putt after Bryson missed his own 8 foot birdie putt.

We often hear TV commentators refer to the impact of the grain direction of the grass on greens. The grain definitely affects the speed of your putt but it appears that greens with Bermuda Bent Grass will affect the direction of your putt more than any other type of grass growing on greens. When you golf in Hawaii or the Caribbean islands and tropical Florida you definitely need to read the Bermuda grass which is used on most of the greens.

The following information came from an article written by Mark Immelman, brother of PGA TOUR professional Trevor Immelman.

Grain Affecting Your Putt (especially on strains of Bermuda Grass):
Grain is the direction that grass grows flat on a green. [Slope of the green (or gravity) has a much greater effect on a putt than the direction of the grain but grain direction will slow down putts when putting into the grain or speed up putts when putting with the grain.] By walking around the putting line of your ball to the hole, you can see lighter green areas where the grain is running away from you and darker areas where the grain in running toward you.

Reading the Grain at the Cup:

I loved watching The Players Championship at Sawgrass last week. Sawgrass is an amazing course and I hope to play it someday (most likely from the seniors tee). The most exciting part of the match happened on #4 on the final day. Bryson DeChambeau and Lee Westwood had both been playing controlled golf but their games went sideways on that hole. Yes the pros top it, shank it and slice it too!

Watching these champions play like recreational players was pretty exciting. We all know the feeling when we lose control of our minds and our game. Fortunately for them they both got back on track to finish their rounds with respectable scores. What can we learn from this?

The Situation:
Bryson topped a drive into the deep grass in front of the tee boxes. Lee must have been excited about his opportunity to gain some ground on Bryson so he smashed a crazy slice into the water in an out of bounds area. Funny how our minds can mess up opportunities. But wait, the plot thickens. For Bryson’s second shot, he shanked his ball about “50 yards wide of his target”, into a grove of trees and bush. He found his ball but his recovery shot hit another tree on the way out. He ended up with a double bogie and finished his round at -1.

Lee continued his shaky round and finished at Even after missing a make-able putt on the 17th hole which would have put him in a playoff with Justin Thomas.

The Opportunity
1/ We were watching the best of the best. We can only imagine the errant shots which were made by others who didn’t make the cut. All golfers make poor shots. Golfers with low scores know how to shake it off and get on with their game. Ben Hogan said, “The most important shot in golf is your next one.”
2/ I just watched a champion take a 7 on a par 3 during a championship match. Instead of composing herself after hitting over a green and into the water on an island green, she quickly chipped over the green again and into water on the other side of the green. After another poor chip and 2 more putts she was steamed. She will regret her hasty action if she lost the match.
3/ Bryson sets up to drive, chip and putt as stiff as a board. Aren’t we supposed to relax our muscles to get the most power and best control out of them? He goes against every rule that we have ever heard about golf swing perfection. Unless you have the body and mentality of Bryson: DON’T TRY IT.
4/ We all need a fiancé like Lee Westwood had on his bag. Helen Storey helped him get over so many poor shots in his final round. If only she could have sunk that key putt for Lee on the 17th. Justin Thomas won the tournament but in my mind, Helen was the star of the show.

You may have seen Justin Rose or other professional golfers try to read the break of a putt by using their putter as a Plumb-Bob (PB). Standing behind your ball and using your putter to determine the break of a putt is USELESS. PB only helps you understand the break of the green UNDER YOUR FEET. Since your ball breaks the most as it slows down near the hole, you should only use PB FROM THE HOLE SIDE of the ball’s path to the hole. You rarely see this done correctly by the pros on TV.

When to Plumb-Bob
1/ Don’t waste your time plumb-bobbing when you can see an obvious break on the path from your ball to the hole. You still have to estimate the amount of break for your putt.
2/ If you can see 2 or 3 breaks on the path for your ball (DON’T PLUMB-BOB) just make your best guess where your ball will break to reach the hole and prey for a 2 putt green.
3/ Ideally you should plumb-bob if you can’t see the break on a smooth green for up to a 10 foot putt. Slight breaks on a downhill putt are the most difficult to read and should be read by using PB.

CALIBRATE YOUR PUTTER BEFORE you ever Try to Plumb-Bob
Every putter head has a different weight so it may change the angle of the shaft as it hangs down from your hand. In any building, close one eye (remember to always use the same open eye for PB) and hold your putter with an outstretched arm as you line up a specific side of your shaft facing the frame of a door (not including the grip). Change the orientation of your putter head until one side of the shaft lines up perfectly with the frame of a door and remember that exact orientation.

Always use the SAME open eye, SAME side of the shaft and SAME direction of your club face FOR ALL OF YOUR PLUMB-BOBBING. [I use my right eye to line-up the left side of my putter shaft while using my right hand to hold the putter with the putter face pointing directly at the hole.]

Plumb-Bobbing on the Green
1/ Stand below the hole (but fairly close to the hole) and ONLY use your PB eye (close the other one) to first line up the center of the hole with the center of your ball.
2/ Then hold your putter in front of that eye with the correct putter face orientation (as it was calibrated) and line up the BOTTOM of the correct side of your putter shaft with the center of the hole.
3/ The UPPER end of your putter shaft will only line up with the center of your ball if there is no break at the hole. If the correct side of your shaft lines up on one side of your ball (the left of right side), that side is the HIGH side of the green so your ball will break from that side down to the hole as it nears the hole. You can only practice putting to understand how much break to expect.

Golf can be such a frustrating game because very minor errors can add a stroke to every hole you play. Mishitting a fairway shot or burning the edge of a hole with a short putt are so easy to do if you don’t pay attention to the small changes required in your stance or grip. Changing wind and contour of the ground always impact your shots but you need to appraise and adjust for every condition. That’s why you can always improve your game. Check out these tips.

Tee Height: If you normally use your 5 wood to hit off the deck on the fairway, don’t tee it up to use it like a driver on the tee. Don’t tee up with the ball off the heel of your leading foot for a 3 or 5 wood (instead of your driver). I learned this the hard way. After hitting 3 duck hooks on 3 successive holes I finally learned that my brain was not adapting.

Adjusting for Up or Down Slope in Your Stance: Always adjust to swing with the plane of the slope. Adjust your feet and shoulders to swing up on an up slope and down on a down slope. Use a lower lofted club for an up slope (to compensate for the distance that you will lose with your higher trajectory shot) and a higher loft club for a down slope.

Adjusting for a Side Slope: It’s pretty easy to adjust for a ball above your feet as you need to compensate for the amount of distance and direction that you will pull your shot. It’s much harder to adjust your swing for a ball on an angle below your feet. The heel of your club may contact the ground before it reaches the ball. A sever slope below your feet will force you to take your medicine and chip out of that location before you consider taking a full swing.

Sinking Short Side Hill Putts: I recall seeing Ernie Els take a 9 while attempting about 6 putts to sink a side hill putt. A firm putt which breaks downhill is risky (DON’T DO IT). Plan for a putt above the hole that dies downhill into the hole. If you miss, at least you will have a short putt. [Short putts on a FLAT surface should all be firm and in the hole as weak putts may move away from the hole with any imperfections near the hole.]

I recently watched a blog by Danny Maude where he presents a new way to improve short chips (without using a conventional chipping swing). How often do you hit a green and then roll about 2 to 10 feet off the green? Then you hit the chip fat or thin. Something takes over your body so that you just can’t make a basic chip. The problem is all in the use of a combination of your legs, arms and wrists. If you have this problem, stay tuned for your hallelujah moment.

This tip is ideal to help with SHORT chips that run out up to about 20 feet. YOU DON’T NEED TO USE A CONVENTIONAL GOLF SWING TO MAKE THESE CHIPS. The LOWER you grip down on your club the easier it is to control the swing. When you grip lower down your club (even below the grip on your club so that your club is almost vertical to the ground), you have better control of the swing direction. You only lose power. Short chips DON’T NEED POWER. You want short chips with CLEAN HITS and PERFECT DIRECTIONAL CONTROL.

There are 3 types of short chips covered in this blog: Chip & Run, Chip & Check-up and Chipping in Heavy Grass. Higher lofted clubs will give you a higher chip so you can chose from any iron loft up to a 60 degree wedge. Experiment with all lofted clubs to find your comfort level but remember to make adjustments to higher lofted clubs for shorter chips with shorter run-outs.

Setup: Narrow stance, feet parallel and angled 25 to 45 degrees forward, move your hands down to the bottom of the grip or even below your grip and down the shaft to hold your club almost in a vertical position. You will be hitting off the toe of your club as it points toward the ground. Your shoulders should be horizontal to the ground and you need to keep your eye on the ball until after impact.

1/ Chip & Run-out: Use this method to clear the fringe or narrow rough and run out to a distant pin location. Don’t setup with a shaft lean. Ball position is lined up between your toes. Rock your shoulders to swing your straight arms and use gravity to swing the weight of your club. Use a minor wrist release after impact as you swing up your target line.

Anyone who hopes to master the game of golf needs to approach the game with reasonable expectations. There is no such thing as a natural golfer. Understanding swing path and the resulting shape and distance that you can achieve with each club is a great starting point. Learning from a mentor who can recognize your weaknesses and fine tune your swing to improve distance and direction control is definitely an advantage. Anyone can become a “good” golfer but you need to follow some basic principles.

Consider what some outstanding professional golfers have done:
Tiger Woods: He learned the basics from his father but he also had the internal drive to be successful. Unfortunately that drive and attitude got derailed during his marriage break up. That confirms that our metal state of mind has a lot to do with our success.
Dustin Johnson: His strength and skill went sideways with drugs but he is now back on track.
Matt Kuchar: Age must be a factor. Matt was very successful in his earlier years, lost the winning formula and then won the Sony Open in 2019 even with his aging body at 41. [We all remember Tom Watson almost winning the 2009 Open at the age of 59.] Limit your expectations as you age. Work on accuracy as you lose distance.
Bubba Watson: He has never taken a lesson and is totally self-taught. He is one of the longest drivers but direction control and focus for all of his clubs seem to have ended his winning ways. Control your draw or fade to control your success.

Others like Phil Michelson, Jim Furyk, Rory McIlroy and Jordon Spieth have had their ups and downs with their long and short golf careers. So how can we apply their successes to our games? As weekend warriors or want-to-be golfers, what should we do to get the best out of our games?

Mental Attitude: Every mishit ball is a frustration for every golfer. Recognizing the cause is a critical starting point. You need to turn your attitude around by attacking your weaknesses. Start by taking lessons, practicing on the range and calming your mind and body. Learn that a wonderful drive or iron shot will NOT improve by swinging harder and faster.

Physical Conditioning: This is typically a problem as we age and lose our flexibility. Spend time daily to improve your basic strength and range of motion. Strained muscles can help your game by forcing you to slow down or limit your motion. Use your recovery period as a learning experience because your game will often improve when you slow down to improve your lag and get more control & distance for each shot.

Learning to keep your leading arm straight in your backswing is a critical step for more distance. Unfortunately, too many of us rush the backswing and never benefit from the straight leading arm. Limiting your backswing is one way to ensure that your arm is straight but it’s not the ideal solution. You should take more time to complete your backswing (with a straight arm & cocked wrist) and to start your weight transfer to your leading foot.

Don’t rush your backswing. Our recent blogs have focused on ways to create more time for more rotation in your backswing. By thinking the words “1 aaand 2” to manage the timing of your swing you are not only creating a 2-step rhythm but you are also blocking out other thoughts.
1/ Count “1 aaand 2”, by adding “aaand”. It gives you more time for more backswing.
2/ You may want to try lifting your leading heel to give you more rotation without bending your leading arm.
3/ The more time you take the easier it is to rotate your hips and then your shoulders as you lift your straight leading arm. (Older bodies have less flexibility so it takes us more time to coil up our bodies.)
4/ The power hitter (like Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson) start their driver takeaway by flattening their leading wrist (IT WORKS!). They naturally cock their wrists for lag at the top of their backswing.

Bryson DeChambeau is the only pro that I have seen with a flat leading wrist for his driver and iron setup. Flatten your leading wrist as the first move in your takeaway.Dustin Johnson flattens his leading wrist for his irons and its the first move that he makes during his driver takeaway.

Resulting Problems
More backswing coil gives you more power and distance for each club but it generates a few problems.
1/ A longer drive is always helpful but you may find that you have to drop down a club on holes with doglegs.
2/ You will find that you are adding about 10 more yards for most of your clubs. You have to adjust your club selection to hit your greens in regulation. Hitting further with each club is fun to watch but not fun to play when they rocket over your target green.
3/ The worst problem that I found is that can pull some of my shots. To avoid pulls, I still setup square to the ball but I have to focus on impacting the ball on the inside quadrant of the ball.

Don’t get frustrated with your changing game. Accept the fact that you are increasing your distance as that will ultimately improve your Greens in Regulation. Make adjustments with your club selection and your line up to benefit from your NEW GAME.

Don’t complete your takeaway on a low plane as it will result in an over the top slice swing. Your takeaway should be straight back so that you can shallow your downswing and hit the inside quadrant of your ball to create a straight or draw shot.

In our last blog we recommended slowing down your backswing to allow more time for the weight shift during your transition. We are actually trying to achieve a number of movements during our back swing but you may not realize this. All of the movements seem to melt into one consistent motion. If you miss one key element in your backswing you will destroy the downswing and your perfect impact.

I noticed that the top golfer in the world, Dustin Johnson, starts his takeaway by bending his trailing wrist back to flatten his leading wrist. Bryson DeChambeau sets up with a very rigid straight leading arm and flat leading wrist which points down along the shaft of his club directly out from his leading foot. No other professional golfer setup with this rigid leading arm setup. It actually makes him look like a stiff robot but the power he generates is even greater than Dustin’s so it must be helping.

Dustin ends up bowing his leading wrist at the top of his backswing and adding more angles that need to be adjusted in his downswing. An even worse situation is that many recreational golfers cup their wrists.
Bryson keeps his leading wrist flat at the top of his swing and just unloads his straight arm down and through his ball whipping the head of his club through the ball with the explosive force of a catapult. We all need to learn from his powerful swing.

Opportunity
1/ FLAT LEADING WRIST: Setting up with a rigid straight leading arm and wrist (like Bryson) is obviously not anyone’s preference (as no one else is doing it on the pro circuit). Why not setup with a straight leading arm, then flatten your leading wrist as the first move in your takeaway, the way Dustin does it.
2/ ADD RHYTHM TO YOUR SWING: Slow down you take-away to give yourself time to flatten your leading wrist and then cock that wrist to create lag at the top of you swing. That slower take-away also give you time to put some rhythm in your backswing as you transfer your weight to your leading foot. To slow down my takeaway I often mentally say: “1 aaand 2” with the rhythm of a 2-Step.
–“1” to start my take-away as I flatten my leading wrist
–“aaand” as I load up my back-swing with lag and start to shift my weight to my leading leg
–“2” to start my downswing. I shallow my downswing from the inside and up my target line to a balanced pose.

Now that I have slowed down my backswing I have added about 10 yards for every club. I love the extra distance but it requires some adjustment to drop down a club for each distance. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to keep your leading arm straight and also to keep your leading wrist flat. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

We love the game of golf because it’s a challenge for our minds and bodies to duplicate those EFFORTLESS swings that we see the pros make on TV. Striping a ball straight up the center of a fairway seems to be so easy when we watch so many professional golfers consistently making miraculous shots. I’ve done it myself but I just can’t maintain the consistency from the driving range to the course. Fortunately I learned that weekend warriors need more time in our back-swing to rotate my hips and shoulders as we create lag with my wrists.

We all know that a consistent rhythm or cadence in our swing gives us time to setup our bodies for the perfect transition, impact and balanced pose. When we are mentally and physically relaxed our backswing and downswing become effortless. Our minds and bodies are in sync. But what happens when our minds start to focus on the importance of the drive off the first tee or a shot along the side of a pond or over a mass of bushes. We tense up and our swing pattern changes.

The Problem
I discovered the problem for more consistent swings while watching recreational golfers execute the perfect practice swing and then destroy their swing when they move forward to hit a ball. We all pause to gather our thoughts before we execute our swing. We are actually building up TENSION in our minds and our bodies. We then speed up our backswing to hopefully create more power. BIG MISTAKE! Power comes from the speed of our downswing NOT OUR BACK-SWING.

When we execute a swing, we tend to speed up our back-swing with our arms but we lose the timing to allow the pressure to shift from our back foot to initiate the downswing. A rushed back swing results in swinging OFF OUR BACK FOOT. If we don’t give ourselves time to transfer our weight during the transition at the top of our swing we tend to fall back at the start of our downswing. That results in mishits where the ball squirts off the toe of our club face.

The Solution
Slow down and take more time in your back swing. Intentionally practice the same speed of backswing that you plan to use when you are swinging at the ball. Use that extra time to start the transfer of your weight to your leading foot as your hip bumps forward to start your downswing from the ground up. [The pros don’t need the extra time as they make all the right moves at high speed.] Give yourself that extra time to start your forward press with your weight shift before your hip rotation starts your downswing.

Are your drives randomly flying left or right every time you swing your driver? If you don’t understand what’s causing the flight path you will never be a great golfer. The swing path of your club and club face direction at impact are both contributing to your launch direction and path: straight, draw, fade, hook or slice. Check out this summary and then start practicing to shape the shot you want. Controlling the side-spin of your ball is the starting point for great golfers.

Golf publications consistently state that the direction of the swing path of your club through impact controls about 85% of the initial direction of your ball. The face direction of your club at impact causes side spin for your ball that move your ball left or right from its launch trajectory. Of course wind direction WILL help or hinder the direction of your ball but you will have to add that factor into your shot depending on the prevailing wind direction.

The following description is for a golfer using right handed golf clubs.

Use a Conventional Grip for all Shots
You should be setting up with a conventional grip with the back of your left hand facing directly up you target line. Your club should line up across the upper end of your fingers of your left hand (NOT YOUR PALM). The crease between your thumb and first finger on both of your hands should be pointing at your tailing shoulder. [Rotating your hands to a stronger or weaker grip will have an impact on your ball flight so you should test changes to understand the proper grip.]

Straight Shots
Because all golf clubs are swung in an arc around your body it is difficult to hit every shot in a straight line up your target line. Just setup with your toes on a line pointing straight up your target line. If your swing impacts your ball straight up your target line with a perfectly square face up your target line, your ball will launch straight up that line.

Ideally every year we should all be finding a professional golf club fitter to recommend the perfect clubs for your body-strength and flexibility using the latest technology. Unfortunately that is not financially practical for many of us so we make do with the clubs we have. As our bodies age, we tend to get weaker and less flexible along with more aches and muscle strains. If you want to improve your game first you should consider making some physical adjustments with your existing clubs.

Very minor adjustment can add distance and consistence. Don’t try to make radical changes to your swing on the golf course. You could start by taking lessons with a PGA Instructor. Understand your weaknesses. Create a plan of action for your drives, fairway shots, approach shots and putting. Or you may consider purchasing a training aid like GOLFSTR+ to help you train for 6 swing fixes with all of your existing clubs. Learn to swing properly with a straight leading arm, a flat leading wrist and lag for more power and consistency.

Direction Control

All of your longer clubs (driver to 8 iron) should be swung with a consistent 80 to 85% swing speed. For a shorter distance with any club, just chock down and swing at the same speed. NEVER swing faster for more distance (UNLESS YOU WANT TO ADD A DUCK HOOK OR SLICE).Stop fighting with hooks and slices. The weight of your club and/or the flex point of your shaft may be killing your shots. There is a perfect open or closed stance with a forward or rearward ball position that will generate straight golf shots for every club in your bag. Go to the practice range to test each of your clubs to determine the right correction for all of your clubs.Slight adjustments will cause every club to slice or draw. Know your preferred shot shape so that you can setup for your shape.

Distance Control

Train yourself to swing with a straight leading arm. Limit your back-swing at the point where your elbow starts to bend.Learn to swing with a flat leading wrist. It will force you to bend your trailing elbow and shallow your downswing to avoid swinging over the top for those crazy slices. [ Our #1 tip! ]Don’t rush your transition as your weight starts the shift from your tailing foot to your leading foot. A smooth transition with a constant acceleration during your lag release will make your club whooosh through the point of impact.You may want to lift your leading heel to assist your back-swing to allow for more hip rotation. Your back-swing is a hip, spine and shoulder rotation. NEVER sway back. [Swinging with all of your weight on your trailing foot will causes fat, thin and topped balls.]

Putting and Chipping Control

I recently sent out a Golf Truism with our weekly blog: “Why does it takes 17 holes to warm up?” That thought comes up when the golf Gods allow us to hit an amazing shot on the 18th hole to make sure that we come back again. It’s could be that or your body is tired so you are extremely relaxed or your mind has finally dropped all of its external thoughts so that you can finally focus on golf.

Staying relaxed and visualizing the shot that you want to make must be a controlling factor for your success. Swinging with all your might is definitely not a good solution. Golf is NOT a “no brainer”.

Don’t let your mind wander. Jack Nicklaus lost a Masters Tournament when he lost his concentration as he shook a fans hand during his walked up to the green on the 18th hole. He lost his focus and missed a key putt and lost the tournament. He commented in retrospect that he never did that again. If you want to be good at golf you need to zone in and tune out everything else. Keep your mind on your preparation and execution for each shot.

Great golfers take these 4 distinct steps:
1/ Clear their mind before they setup to execute their shot.
2/ Decide on the shot that they want to make (based on experience).
3/ Visualize their ball flight to their target.
4/ Zone into a rhythm for a full backswing and release to a balanced finish.

The mechanical components of their swing are NOT in their mind.

I have played this game for over 50 years and love the challenge. I only break 80 once in a while so I’m always looking for ways to keep a consistent swing for every club in my bag. One of our blog followers asked if GOLFSTR+ could help him overcome EARLY RELEASE. My response reminded me how important your practice with training aids can be.

Swing rhythm and weight shift from your trailing foot to your leading foot during your transition can help you avoid YOUR EARLY RELEASE. Unfortunately the changing weight of each club and the mental pressure from your last shot often have an impact on your next shot.

Practicing with GOLFSTR+ will remind you to keep your leading arm straight. Your leading arm should stay straight in both your back-swing and your down-swing. That’s a good starting point to stop your early release. Following are 2 of the 6 training aid uses for GOLFSTR+

1/ Straight Arm Trainer
a. Feel it touching the back of your leading arm as you pull down to start your down swing.
b. That’s your mental reminder to prevent your EARLY RELEASE as you shift your weight to your leading foot.

2/ Lag Trainer
a. The pressure on your trailing forearm is the reminder to start your transition.
b. The rotation of your leading hip starts your weight shift.
c. Holding your cocked wrist as you start your down-swing stops your EARLY RELEASE.

Have you ever experienced an Out of Body SENSATION during your golf swing? It’s that moment when you get everything in sync for the perfect shot. Your subconscious mind seems to picture your swing in slow motion as it takes control of your body. I now realize that my brute force in my External Game of Golf is limiting my lower scores.

I decided to share these thoughts after I finished reading “The Inner Game of Golf”. Improve your game by letting your subconscious mind take control.

So many golfers, including myself, rush our backswing during the transition and never give our body time to start the shift of our weight to our leading foot at the top of our swing. Are you experiencing the following in your iron swings?
1/ You finish your swing falling back on your trailing foot.
2/ You rarely take any divot after the point where your ball rests.
3/ Your divot starts before your ball.
4/ The direction of your divot is never running up your target line.

Practical-golf.com provided this image. Impact your ball and then take your divot.

You need to slow down your transition and accelerate from the top of your swing. Danny Maude refers to this motion as swinging from “high to low” as your club falls DOWN through the ball. Your rushed, brute force swing from the top of your swing is killing your game.
a. Add rhythm to your swing by thinking 1, 2, 3 (with “2” at the top of your swing).
b. Force yourself to start the press forward (instead of backwards) at the top of your swing so that you WILL take a divot (or at least some grass) after the point where your ball is at rest.
c. Force yourself to finish your swing so that you are balancing on your leading foot and watching the amazing hit that you just made.

I know that many, including Tiger Woods, shift their minds into a yoga like trance where their subconscious takes over their swing. I’m not sure that I have described this correctly but I do know that it’s a subconscious experience. It’s that strange awareness when your mind takes control of your brute-force swing. Pros get this feeling on almost every shot.

If your lead hip is not starting to press forward at the top of your swing, your transition will not generate a powerful hit. All too often we lock our head and hips at the top of our swing and let our arms take over. That early arm action freezes our body so that we swing with our weight on our trailing foot. Your hip press or bump will start your weight shift to your leading foot.

When you complete a relaxed practice swing (before your muscles tense up for the main event), it’s so easy to allow your weight to start shifting to our leading foot. Unfortunately when we step forward to the ball your focus often changes. We all tend to think about putting a little more power into our swing. That extra power causes us to rush the start of our downswing – – – BEFORE we start to shift our weight to our leading foot.
To help you create a smooth transition, Clay at TopSpeedGolf.com made the following recommendations:

This image shows a light hip BUMP during the transition. It allows you to stay over the ball and to start opening your hips.At address: Stand nice & tall (but still in an athletic position). You want to begin by standing as upright (with knees bent) as you can and still reach the club to the ball. You’re going to want to squat lower as you launch down in your downswing, so starting with nice posture can keep you from feeling too low to the ground in the downswing.On the backswing: Activate your hips. If you rotate your hips in the backswing, not only does it help you load up on your leading foot, but it gives your hips momentum to open up through impact as you launch into a standing position.During the Transition: Push your lead foot into the ground (as you bump your hip forward). Newton’s 3rd Law says that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So, by pushing into the ground with your lead foot, it pushes your lead hip back (and open). This gives you room to swing through the ball. Opening your hips at impact allows you to power through your ball as you either launch your drives or skim some turf with your irons after the ball.As you follow through: You need to keep a shoulder tilt through impact. Your trailing shoulder should be tilted down. Focusing on this will ensure you’re staying in your athletic posture through impact.

When you get this right it feels like y o u a r e s w I n g I n g in s l o w m o t I o n. You can feel the leading edge of your club effortlessly power your ball up your target line. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to keep you leading arm straight through impact. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Golf Truism #38 The nearest sprinkler head will be blank.

There is a fine line between a poor golf shot and a wonderful shot. Imagine the success in your game if you could perform the same swing with each club to impact exactly on the sweat spot of your club face and directly up your target line. An inch of impact error on your club face (up, down, out, in or any combination) or a few degrees off your target line can destroy any shot. When you consider the action required by every bone and muscle in your body, it’s actually amazing how we hit as many good shots as we do.

The human body is an imperfect machine but our brain somehow makes corrective actions to compensate for the different strengths of muscles on each side of our body. Past injuries like torn muscles, a strained tendon and broke bones all must have an impact on the way we swing a golf club. The older we get the more inconsistent our bodies become.

We are all frustrated with missed shots. But we all believe that golf perfection is within our grasp and that’s why we keep coming back to this game. YOU need a plan for consistency.

It’s risky to plan and then visualize your shot drawing into the green over water. Let your mind control your shot and enjoy the view.

How do We Maintain Consistency in our Swing?
1/ Have you ever noticed that you have played some of your best golf when you are injured with a muscle strain or playing in a mental fog while suffering with cold medication? Your new found success occurs when your mind is minimizing that monster inside your brain. Give yourself more time for a good backswing and time to follow through to a complete finish. Admire your shots.

2/ Why do they call Ernie Els “The Big Easy”? His backswing and transition are slow and in control. Slow down your backswing to give yourself time for hip and shoulder rotation as your wrists cock to create lag.

We all struggle for perfection with our game of golf. That’s exactly why we love this game. Yes it’s a love hate relationship but you know that if you can par one hole you should be able to par all 18 holes on any given day. At least you hope to do that. I’ve been reading The Inner Game of Golf by Timothy Gallwey. He really has an amazing solution.

Self Doubt Is our Primary Stumbling Block
CONFIDENCE and TRUST for a consistent swing with every club is all we need to lock into our brain to create SUCCESS. Unfortunately we live with 2 alter egos: Self 1 that controls how we TRY for success and Self 2 that OPENS OUR MIND for success. Just get rid of mental stress by replacing it with a simple thought that’s easy to accomplish.

Of course you need to know the basics of the proper club selection, grip and setup for your irons, hybrids, woods and driver. You also need the skill to read a green and choose a target line. All of that can be learned with lessons and practice. Where we all fall down is during our swing when nervous tension destroys our rhythm and execution of our swing with any club or putter.

If you focus on the top 20 (or 100) moves that we need to execute and then you try to join the dots in your mind, you build up panic and emotion that can destroy any swing. That’s exactly why Brook Koepka says that he has NO thought in his mind when he swings. He knows his target and the shape of his shot. That wonderful feeling is all he needs to execute his shot.

Charles Barkley was a wonderful basketball players but he can’t melt all of his thoughts into a simple golf swing. He needs to allow his inner self to release his swing.

Professional golfers spend years taking lessons and practicing every type of shot with every club in their bag. Competitive matches just add an extra level of stress that recreational players will never experience. But the moment of truth happens for every shot we take. How do you calm down our brain for every swing?

I write these blogs based on interesting golf insights that may affect your game as well as mine. This week I watched a training clip by Quintin on Top Speed Golf that reminded me of a match that I played where all of my iron shots were in perfect control for direction and distance. Why did this happen? I took a divot after impact with the ball on most of my shots.

Like most recreational golfers, I typically make a perfect practice swing for my iron, pitch or chip shots. Then I proceed to put a little more oomph and power into my actual shot before my hips start to rotate. Yes, I rush my shot from the top of my swing without giving enough time for my weight transfer to my leading foot. I often that I rush my swing with my arms while my weight is still on my tailing foot.

I found this image in Golf Digest with a perfect position in the transition. Unfortunately many of us execute the downswing without transferring weigh to our leading foot.

The lesson that I watched focused on “Why we Chunk Chips“. It’s also the same reason why we mishit our iron shots.
1/ It’s easy to make a practice swing for a Chip Shot. You don’t need a lot of power so we easily swing to bottom out our swing exactly where the ball is resting or beyond that location.
2/ Then we move up our ball, take a look at our target and start to think about the last chucked chip shot that we made. The body tightens and we turn into a robot.
3/ In our backswing, we limit our hip and spine rotation as we tend to shift the trunk of our body about 2 or 3 inches sideways to create a little more power with a slightly faster backswing and downswing.
4/ Unfortunately we never recover from the side-sway in our backswing. We then bottom out the swing 3 inches before the ball or we blade it like a bullet across the green.

Solution: DON’T SHIFT YOUR BODY SIDEWAYS IN YOUR BACKSWING.
–Keep your head directly over your ball as your shoulders and hips ROTATE [Not Shift].

Your leading knee doesn’t straighten, it turns with your body rotation and points more to your trailing knee.
Stand up right now in a golfer’s stance and cross your arms over your chest and rotate (or coil) WITHOUT SHIFTING SIDEWAYS.
Do this about 20 times and then complete the same rotation while swinging your wedge. Your club face will ground-out at or just after the ball. No more chunking.

Now practice the same swing with all of your irons using your GOLFSTR+ AND A STRAIGHT LEADING ARM. Make sure that you take a slight divot after your ball. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

You will never be a low handicap golfer if you don’t figure out a consistent takeaway that works for your driver and possibly a different one for your irons. Some pros have a wide or narrow takeaway and some flatten their leading wrist and others bow their leading wrist. So what should you focus on for your takeaway?

Rory McIlroy has a wide takeaway. It lets him slightly loop down at the top and shallow his club with his elbow into his side as his leading hip rotates his body through his downswing. I personally had a problem with coming over the top and slicing the ball so Rory give me the perfect swing to shallow my downswing for a square impact.

On the other hand Dustin Johnson does an early wrist cock in his takeaway. He has no problem visualizing the open face of his club as he bows his wrist at the top of his swing. He also has no problem starting his downswing on the same plane as he drops the butt end of his golf club and fires his hooded club up his target line. Most of the teaching pros recommend that you don’t try to copy this amazing swing as you need brute force to get away with his bowed wrist swing.

Bryson DeChambeau keeps his leading wrist perfectly straight in his setup, during his backswing and down on the same plane in his downswing. He looks like a robot but his strength delivers amazing club-head speed.

The Morning-Read Blog provided this this photo of Dustin Johnson after his Masters Win. No-one swings like Dustin but he is the best. He definitely swings from the inside and up his target line and you should too.

Does your take-way matter? NO, as long as you can still change your downswing path to release your wrists at the bottom of your inside swing arc and up your target line.