In this issue we’ll discuss…

Revive Your Short Game With These Tips
Knock It Close From The Rough
Question of the Week - Maintaining Tempo Increases Consistency
Article - Finding Your Rhythm Cuts Strokes
Article - Four Golf Tips To Achieve Distance and Pinpoint Accuracy

Revive Your Short Game With These Tips

You can’t make up strokes from the tee box or the green. But from 25 yards and in is a different story. You can do a lot from there to save strokes. As one great golfer said, the game is played from 100 yards and in. Chip, pitch, and bunker shots impact your score than you might think. So if you can’t break 90 or 100, maybe it’s time to revive your short game.

Below are six keys to reviving your short game:

Play the ball a clubhead from the front foot
Shift your weight to the front foot
Don’t scoop the ball
Keep hands in line with your front leg
Rotate your body through the shot
Release the hands after impact

Playing the ball back, trying to scoop the ball, and placing your weight on your back foot are the three most common short game mistakes. With most short game shots, play the ball a clubhead from the front foot, shift your weight forward, and don’t try to scoop the ball. Scoopers don’t understand the mechanics of chipping or pitching. Instead of trying to scoop the ball, let the club work for you. Trust that it has the loft to do the trick.

In addition, align your hands with your front leg at address, rotate your body through the shot, and release your hands after impact. Aligning your hands encourages a downward blow. Rotating your body allows your hands to reach the impact zone at just the right time. And “knocking your knees” on the follow through says you’ve hit the shot correctly, whether it’s from the grass or a bunker.

If your scores are suffering, maybe it’s time to resuscitate your short game. Check your mechanics to see if you’re making any mechanical mistakes. If you are, first eliminate them. Then, watch your scores drop.

Knock It Close From The Rough

Every golfer lands in the rough sooner or later—even the best of us. If the lie is near the green, the shot becomes critical. It can mean the difference between making a bogey or double bogey and a par. To score low, you must know how to knock it close from the really deep stuff. Knocking it close from there chops one or two strokes from your score and often saves par.

Here are five keys to hitting it close from the deep rough:

Add more club and choke down
Position your hands in front of the ball
Play the ball slightly forward
Retain the right angle
Use a steeply descending blow

Some golfers like to use short irons from the deep rough. But that’s hard. It requires a strong grip, a steeply descending blow, and strength. Plus, you can’t release the club too early. Otherwise, you’ll end up hitting a lot of grass and no ball.

Instead, try using a longer iron and choking down. But don’t change anything else: Take your normal stance from the rough. Position your hands in front of the ball. And play the ball slightly forward in your stance. The longer shaft adds leverage to your swing.
Also, retain the right angel formed by the club and your left arm (right for lefties) at the top of your swing as long as possible.

Holding this angle generates the additional club head speed you need to escape deep rough. It also encourages a steeply descending blow and prevents your hands from releasing too early. The ball flies lower coming out of the rough, but that beats a flubbed shot or a complete miss.

Find some thick stuff at an open field or the range and practice hitting from there. You’ll be glad you did.

Question of the Week - Maintaining Tempo Increases Consistency

Q. Hi Jack, How can I slow my swing on a regular basis? When I slow down, I perform as good as anyone. Unfortunately, my head lets me down and up comes the tempo!

Kindest regards,
Colin D.

A. Thanks, Colin. Tempo is the time it takes you to complete your full swing. It’s geared to your personality. If you’re deliberate, for example, your tempo is likely to be somewhat slower than a person who’s fast paced. When you’re playing well, your tempo is pretty much the same on every full shot. But when your tempo goes, your game goes as well. That’s why you play well one day and poorly the next.

But developing an appreciation for your tempo isn’t easy. It takes hard work. Below is an exercise for developing your appreciation for tempo:
Address the ball. Raise the club head off the ground slightly. Move it forward to a position a foot or so into the follow-through, and start swinging. Guide the club head back over the ball, complete your backswing, and swing through the ball all in one motion. Repeat this exercise several times. Continue for a while. Eventually, you’ll develop a feel for your swing tempo.

If you’ve got a golf question you’d like answered, send an email to us at questions@howtobreak80.com and we’ll review it. I can’t guarantee that we’ll use it but if we do, we’ll make sure to include your name and where you’re from.

If you want to truly discover the secrets of shooting like the Pros and creating a more reliable and consistent swing, check out: http://www.HowToBreak80.com

Here are some of my recent articles:
Finding Your Rhythm Cuts Strokes

Four Golf Tips To Achieve Distance and Pinpoint Accuracy

Until next time,

Go Low!

Jack

P.S. Feel free to share this newsletter with family and friends. If you would like to subscribe to this newsletter, go to http://www.howtobreak80.com/newsletter.htm

About the Author

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80 and Shoot Like the Pros!”. He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicaps quickly. His free weekly newsletter goes out to thousands of golfers worldwide and provides the latest golf tips, strategies, techniques and instruction on how to improve your golf game.

In this issue we’ll discuss…

1) Stop Pulling Your Shots
2) Beating Blocked Shots
3) Question of the Week - Hitting Long Irons
4) Article - This Simple Move Adds Yards To Your Drives
5) Article - Practice With Scoring Clubs To Cut Golf Handicaps

Stop Pulling Your Shots

Pulled shots, like block shots, are high on the list of bad shots. If your spine angle and weight distribution are off at address, there’s a good chance you’ll pull the shot. Putting too much weight on your forward foot at address pushes your spine angle too far forward. It also prompts a swing path that moves from outside the target line pre-swing to inside the target line post impact, resulting in a pulled shot.

Below are five keys to preventing pulled shots:

Address ball as if on an upslope
Shift weight to back foot
Lower your back shoulder
Position your hands behind the ball
Stay behind ball on the swing

Correcting both your weight distribution and spine angle prevents pulled shots. Start by setting up as if you were hitting on an upslope. Then, shift your weight from your front foot to your back foot. Drop your back shoulder slightly so that it’s lower than your front shoulder. And position your hands behind the ball at address. This set-up tilts your spine away from the target and changes your swing path.

To visualize the set up, take an iron from your bag and have a friend step on the clubface. Now match the angle of your shoulders to the angle of the shaft. That sets you up with your spine angle tilted away from the target and your front shoulder higher than your back shoulder. If you keep this image in mind at address, you’ll set yourself up nicely behind the ball. Stay behind the ball when swinging.
By re-distributing your weight and correcting your spine angle, you’ll prevent pulled shots. From this position, your downswing comes from inside the target line and arcs back inside that target line past impact. This results in a square clubface at impact and a straighter flight path. You’ll also gain some distance.

Beating Blocked Shots

Block shots rank high on the list of bad golf shots. If you tend to block shots, you could be swinging too aggressively. If you are, you need to curb your aggressiveness to improve your shot making and improve your game. Once you learn to control your aggressiveness, you can use it more productively.

Below are four golf tips for beating blocked shots.

Better posture, better impact
Less tilt, more coverage
Release the head early
Brace your left side and release

Bad things happen when you’re too aggressive. Over aggressiveness often causes your lower body to outrace your upper body. That forces your upper body to tilt away from the target. When this happens, your back shoulder can drop too far under the backswing plane, leading to a blocked shot. To prevent this, try to “feel tall over the ball,” with your knees slightly bent, and keep your upper body straight during the swing. Better posture means less tilt. Less tilt means better impact.

Lack of head movement also causes blocked shots. It, too, can force you to lose your forward tilt toward the ball. If your head stays down and straight, your hips lunge toward the ball, pulling you out of your posture. But if you turn your head slightly with the shot you’ll have better results. You’ll keep your spine straighter and get the club back in front of your body sooner. When your arms get out in from of your body, they can swing down the line better.

If you block shots off the tee, it may be because you’re swinging too aggressively. Learn to curb your aggressiveness a little. You can then use it to your advantage.

Question of the Week - Hitting Long Irons

Q. Hi Jack, I have been hitting my 3-wood and 5-wood at the driving range, but I am always hooking the ball. I have noted that the contact mark of my ball contact in the clubface is on the toe side. I can’t seem to hit it at the center of the clubface. I would appreciate very much your advice.

Thanks.
Euls Austin

A. Thanks, Euls. If you’re hooking (or pushing), your clubface isn’t square at impact. You can stop hooking with a few minor adjustments at address.

First, check your grip. It could be too strong, which means your right-hand is turned too far to the right. If it is, turn it slightly to the left. (If you’re left-handed, reverse the process.) Turning your right hand prevents it from dominating the shot, a key contributor to hooking. Second, play the ball forward in your stance. Third, open up your upper body slightly in relation to the target line at address.

In addition, make sure the toe of your club points skyward you’re about halfway into your backswing. Point the toe skyward helps square the clubface at impact. Also, work on clearing your body through impact. If you do it right, you’ll feel as if your hips are opening up towards the target and your front shoulder is moving forward as you strike the ball. You’ll also feel as if the grip is moving left, but that the clubface remains open. Ingraining these tips in your swing eliminates hooking (and pushing).

Below is a drill that helps you stop hooking (and pushing):

Lay down two clubs parallel to the target. Position the first is along your feet and the second outside the ball, creating a track with the ball in the middle. Now, swing. As you do, keep your cap’s brim in line with the outer club. This keeps your head on the right swing path. Practice this drill faithfully and you’ll hit straighter shots.

If you’ve got a golf question you’d like answered, send an email to us at questions@howtobreak80.com and we’ll review it. I can’t guarantee that we’ll use it but if we do, we’ll make sure to include your name and where you’re from.

If you want to truly discover the secrets of shooting like the Pros and creating a more reliable and consistent swing, check out: http://www.HowToBreak80.com

Here are some of my recent articles:

This Simple Move Adds Yards To Your Drives

Practice With Scoring Clubs To Cut Golf Handicaps

Until next time,

Go Low!

Jack

P.S. Feel free to share this newsletter with family and friends. If you would like to subscribe to this newsletter, go to http://www.howtobreak80.com/newsletter.htm

About the Author

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80 and Shoot Like the Pros!”. He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicaps quickly. His free weekly newsletter goes out to thousands of golfers worldwide and provides the latest golf tips, strategies, techniques and instruction on how to improve your golf game.

In this issue we’ll discuss…

Hitting From A Divot
Choke Down On Short-Iron Shots
Question of the Week - Hitting Long Irons
Article - Seven Secrets To Great Golf
Article - Stack and Tilt Swing Revisited

Jack’s Note: Gearing up for the holiday weekend? Well, if you’ve got golf on your agenda then you’ll want to check out the brand new Precision Putting DVD. We’ve only got a limited amount left (be sure to watch the video on that page as well about how to read greens.)


Hitting From A Divot

All fairways have divots—even those at Augusta. So don’t be surprised if you end up in a divot or two during a round. If you do, don’t try to scoop the ball out, like some golfers do. Scooping forces the club ahead of your hands and exposes its leading edge. That in turn leads to skulls and drop-kicks. But using a steeply descending blow will get you out of the divot.

Here are 5 keys to hitting out of a divot:

* Chose the right ball position
* Open your stance slightly
* Make your hands lead the club
* Stay down after the shot
* Point the club at the target

There are two ways to ensure that you make a steeply descending blow: (1) Play the ball back in your stance and lean left, or (2) take an extra club and play the ball farther forward than you normally do.

If you play the ball back, it will come out lower. Allow for some chase when it lands. If you play the ball forward, swing across the ball from out to in. Option two is tougher to execute than option one, but it let’s you hit the ball higher and stop it faster.

In addition, open your alignment by pulling your front foot back slightly. Pulling your foot back helps your front side clear through impact. Just make sure you aim the clubface directly at the target.

Since hitting from a divot is like hitting from a downhill lie, let your hands lead the clubhead through impact. And stay down longer on the shot than normal. In fact, stay down for three full seconds before looking up. Finish with your club pointing at the target, not wrapped around your body.

Sooner or later you’ll find a divot even on well-kept fairways. If so, resist the temptation to scoop the ball out. Instead, use one of the two ball positions described above and make a steeply descending blow. And stay down longer than usual.

Choke Down On Short-Iron Shots

Golfers hitting from a sidehill lie with the ball above their feet usually choke down on the club to shorten the club. For some, it’s the only time they choke down on a club. But some instructors, including Butch Harmon, a noted expert, say that golfers should choke down on all shots from 130 yards in. Choking down on short-iron shots has its limitations and its benefits. But for many, the benefits far outweigh the limitations.

Three tips when choking down:

1. Stand closer to the ball
2. Take one more club
3. Plan for some roll

Choking down improves ballstriking, provides greater control, and increases confidence in your short game. Choking down also enables you to swing smoothly and stay balanced while attaining the distance you need.

To choke down, place your hands an inch farther down on the grip than on your longer clubs. The cap at the end of the handle should be exposed, plus an inch more of the club itself. This makes the club shorter and lighter. It also makes the swing arc narrower and the swing length shorter, generating a smoother swing.

Since you’re shortening up on the club, stand a bit closer to the ball, and take your normal swing. Also, take one more club than usual. If you normally use an 8-iron, take a 7-iron instead. Again, that’s because you’ve made the club shorter. Since the club has less velocity, the shots will come out lower. Plan for some roll.

If you’re short game isn’t the best, make a change. Try choking down on your short irons. It improves your ballstriking, increases control, and boosts confidence. From 130 yards in, choking down can help you hit it close and save yourself a ton of strokes.

Question of the Week - Hitting Long Irons

Q. Hi Jack, I manage reasonably good shots (at least on the practice range) with the short irons. But when it comes to the long irons, the incremental I get with a 7-, 6-, or 5-iron seems to be marginal. Put another way I don’t seem to get as much distance with my 5-, 4-, or 3-iron as I should. Secondly, I can’t rotate my hips and transfer weight smoothly. I would appreciate some practical advice.

Thanks.
Bhaskar

A. Thanks for the question, Bhaskar. You need good tempo and timing to hit long irons. To do that think “low and slow” at address. So don’t snatch the club away from the ball at address, push it slowly away with your left arm (right arm for left-handers). That keeps the clubhead low to the ground until you begin your backswing. In addition, going back low and slow encourages your legs, hands, arms and shoulders to work in harmony, improving tempo and timing. That in turn produces a longer, straighter shot

Also, make sure you make a full turn with your hips and shoulders at the top of your swing. Weekend golfers often rush their long iron shots. As a result, they don’t make as full a turn when hitting them and mis-hit them.

Of course, you can always switch to a hybrid. That’s what they are designed to do—replace your 3-, 4-, and 5-irons. Shorter and easier to hit, hybrids provides the same distance as your long irons with the same loft. Many golfers, including many PGA pros, use a hybrid instead of their long irons.

As for your hips, the drill below helps you achieve proper hip rotation:
Tee the ball and assume a normal address position, with two clubs in your hands—a 6-iron and a 7-iron. Place the clubface of the 6-iron on the ground, with the butt end of the club against your back leg, inside your hip line. The clubhead should rests on the ground just inside of your back foot. Now hit a ball with the 7-iron. Keep your right hip back as you start down. Since the hip is supposed to slide before it rotates, the club should stay propped up. If it falls to the ground, you’ve opened your hips prematurely.

If you’ve got a golf question you’d like answered, send an email to us at questions@howtobreak80.com and we’ll review it. I can’t guarantee that we’ll use it but if we do, we’ll make sure to include your name and where you’re from.

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros.” He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.

There’s no denying the hybrid’s popularity. More and more golfers are carrying them in their bags, and more and more manufacturers are making them. Hybrids are even growing in popularity among PGA pros. Designed to replace the longer irons in your set, hybrids are easier to hit the 2-, 3-, or 4-iron. They’re also more versatile. In fact, hybrids are among the game’s most versatile clubs. Once you learn to hit them, they can help you chop strokes off your golf handicap right away.

But choosing the right hybrid is a delicate task. First, assess your game. Then, review the hybrids available. And finally, decide on what you want from a hybrid. Do you want a hybrid that corrects for off-center hits or one that offers more workability? Having done this, you’re ready to choose your hybrid. Knowing something about a hybrid’s design makes choosing easier. Three design elements to key on are bulge, gear effect, and center of gravity.

Advantages of the Hybrids
The hybrid is cross between an iron and a wood. It’s intended to replace you’re the longer irons. Because it’s shorter than a long iron, it’s easier to hit. Generally, hybrids have a loft of from 16 degrees to 25 degrees. They also have a low center-of-gravity, a smaller head, and a lower profile than a wood. Hybrids are practically “universal” clubs. You can use them on the tee, from all lies in the fairway and the rough, in fairway bunkers, and near the green, for pitch-and-run shots. Hybrids can also be used for short chips from 50 feet and in.

Hybrids take some getting used to. But you don’t need golf lessons to master them. Reading golf tips in magazines also helps. Once you’re mastered them, they’re a powerful weapon in your arsenal. Tests prove that hybrids improve performance. Golfers using hybrids tend to hit longer balls than players hitting long irons by about 15 percent. That’s because hybrids let players cock and uncock their wrists more easily. This in turn lets them maintain a longer cocking action and a steeper angle of attack, generating more power

Battle Of the Bulge
Bulge is the measured radius of an imaginary circle whose edge lines up with the clubface. A shorter bulge means radius means more curvature of the clubface. In simpler terms, irons are flat. But woods are rounded from heel to toe. That roundness is bulge. Bulge mitigates gear effect—the tendency of toed shots to hook and heeled shots to slice. With bulge, off-center hits start in the opposite direction of the ball’s spin. So the shot finishes at the target.

Bulge tells you if a hybrid plays as more of an iron or a wood. Generally, the farther back the center of gravity the stronger the gear effect. The stronger the gear effect, the more manufacturers round the clubface to counter act it. If a hybrid has a flatter face, its center of gravity is probably positioned more forward like in an iron. The hybrid with a larger bulge radius is more workable. Most manufacturers know how much bulge is appropriate for their hybrids. You can measure bulge by taking a credit card and seeing how much it rocks against the hybrid’s clubface. The more it rocks the more the clubface’s bulge.

Also keep in mind that flat faces rebound slightly less than rounded ones. Hybrids with flatter faces are a better choice for players looking for distance control instead of total distance. If you tend to hit in the center of the clubface, you might be less concerned about off-center performance. Put another way, better players like hybrids with less bulge because they’re more workable. Lesser players like hybrids with more bulge because they improve performance more.

Hybrids are a great addition to your bag. They’re ideal for numerous situations once you learn to hit. Once mastered, they’re as close to a universal club as there is. But if you want one that will help shave strokes off your golf handicap, you need a hybrid that’s right for your game.

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros.” He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.