=================================================== How To Break 80 Newsletter

January 10, 2007

“The Web’s Most Popular Golf Improvement Newsletter”
===================================================

In this issue we’ll discuss…

1) Finding the Right Ball Position
2) When to Cock Your Wrists
3) Question of the Week- Completing the Shoulder Turn
4) Article- Golf’s Four Most Common Mistakes…And Cures
5) Article- Drivers: Is Bigger Better?

===================================================
1) Finding the Right Ball Position
===================================================
Locating the right ball position is crucial to hitting good shots. Unfortunately, many golfers think of ball position as a “semi-fundamental” and don’t really focus on it. That can cost you.

Finding the right ball position is the key to consistency. But sometimes it’s easier said then done. In fact, depending on the lie, it’s sometimes a real challenge, especially when it comes to your irons. So how can you find the right position when out on the course?

It’s a simple. Take a practice swing. That’s right. A practice swing will tell you exactly where the right ball position is. It’s is simple yet effective way of finding the right position. You just have to know what to look for.

Whenever ball position is an issue, line up next to your ball, and take a practice swing. Note where your divot begins. Your ideal ball position is at the beginning of the divot. That’s because you want the club to strike the ball just before it strikes the turf, with a descending blow.

Here’s a simple drill to reinforce the importance of ball position. Take your normal setup. Now take a practice swing with a 6- or 7-iron. See where the beginning of your divot is. Now take two balls. Place one ball where your divot begins. Place the other off your left foot.

If you compare them, you’ll notice that there’s a good one to two inches difference between them. That’s a lot when it comes to swinging a club. That difference can radically affect your swing and how well, or how poorly, you hit the ball. That’s why ball position is so critical.

Try the practice swinging exercise the next time you’re at the range. See how it works for you. You’ll probably find your hitting the ball more consistently than ever. That’s what the right ball position can do.

=================================================== 2) When to Cock Your Wrists
===================================================
You don’t read much about when to cock your wrists. It’s not a fundamental that’s discussed much in either golf tips or golf lessons. But it’s important because cocking your wrists at the wrong time can throw your whole swing off.

Cocking your wrists is a personal thing, like putting. Some players—like Corey Pavin—cock their wrists early in their backswing. Others—like Jack Nicklaus—cock their wrists late their backswing. Yet both have had good success on the tour, to say the least. When you cock your wrists, however, depends entirely on your individual swing needs.

If you cock your wrists late in the backswing, you ruin your chances of hitting the ball straight. Your arms and body will have finished rotating and you’ll want to begin your downswing while you’re still cocking your wrists. That throws everything out of sync, ruining your shot.

If you cock your wrists too early in your swing, you’ll also ruin your swing. In this case, cocking your wrists early prevents your body from fully rotating. You’ll swing down with your arms and hands alone, with virtually no assistance from your legs, hips, and torso, which drains your power. Your swing will again be ruined.

What you need is a compromise approach. Most good golfers cock their wrists naturally early in the backswing. That way there’s a 90-degree angle between the club shaft and the left forearm (for right-handers) by the time they reach shoulder height. That’s ideal. It provides the right blend of arm, hand, and body motion in your swing.

How can you insure that your hands and wrists cock naturally early? Hold the club lightly at address, with no tension in your forearms. When you swing the club away on the backswing, they will react naturally to the weight and motion of your club. Your hands will cock without having to give it a second thought, freeing you to concentrate on other things during your swing.

The key, then, is staying loose and relaxed at address. Cocking your wrists will come naturally if you are.

=================================================== 3) Question of the Week- Completing the Shoulder Turn
=================================================== From Edward

Completing the Shoulder Turn

Q. I’m left handed and having a hard time completing my backswing and getting a full shoulder turn. What is a good drill to get me to get my right shoulder under my chin and then complete my downswing?
A. Thanks for the question, Edward. Some players have a hard time making a full shoulder turn because their chins are against their chest at address. If you’re chin is against your chest, it will prevent your shoulder from completing a full turn. So you need to lift your chin off your chest.

But it doesn’t sound like that’s your problem, so other factors are preventing you from making a full shoulder turn. Below are two drills that help you address the problem. You can do both at home in about five minutes.

The Towel Drill
This drill develops the proper takeaway and downswing. Take a long hand towel. Grab the ends with your hands. Assume the normal address position, with the towel outstretched in front of you parallel to the target line. Start your swing, stopping at the top of the takeaway, to assume the correct swing plane. Complete the downswing and follow through, holding the towel outstretched throughout the process. Keep your head still throughout the drill.

Swinging with No Arms
This drill develops the correct swing. Assume the address position with your arms crossed over your chest in a “cross your heart position.” Focus your eyes on an imaginary ball. Swing back as if you were starting your takeaway. Turn your shoulders and upper body so that your right shoulder (for left-handers) is under your chin as your left shoulder goes back. Swing forward. Feel how the movement is reversed and the upper body responds. Turn your head to follow the body and the flight of the ball.

Do both drills about 25 times a day. Both create muscle memory of the correct swing, and both teach a complete shoulder turn.

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

Also, for past issues of this newsletter and some of my most
recent articles, visit our blog at www.HowToBreak80.com/blog

To view this newsletter online, please visit:
http://www.howtobreak80.com/newsletter01102007.html
Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article- Golf’s Four Most Common Mistakes…And Cures

5) Article- Drivers: Is Bigger Better?

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, send a blank email to
break80ezine@aweber.com
=================================================== 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.

Practice makes perfect. Okay, so few of us will ever get to be perfect on the golf course. Even Tiger Woods isn’t perfect. But practicing is the difference between having either a high golf handicap or a low golf handicap.

Unfortunately, most of us don’t have a lot of time to practice (or even take golf lessons). We’re too caught up in our everyday lives. When we finally get a chance to practice, we must make the most of it to improve. To do that, you need to have a plan before you get to the range. We need to know exactly what we want to work on it to get everything out of the session.

Below are five tips to keep in mind next time you’re planning a practice session.

1. Warm up properly—Your muscles need to be loose to hit the ball properly. You don’t need a physical trainer to tell you that. It’s common sense. If your muscles aren’t lose, your swing will be fast and your tempo will be off.

What’s more, it’s difficult to feel what your arms, legs, feet, and hands will do, if you’re not warmed up.
Stretch your muscles before going to the practice range. There’s enough information out there about stretching. Use it to put an exercise routine together that works on key golf muscles. Once you get to the range, take about 20 practice swings before hitting a ball. By the end of your swings, you will be relaxed and ready to go when it’s time to hit.

2. Hit balls with a purpose—Most players get to the practice range and just hit balls, with no goal or purpose in mind. To get the most out of a practice session, you need to practice with a purpose. If you don’t, all you’ll be doing is ingraining bad habits.

Focusing on addressing one problem and work on that, Maybe it’s your downswing. Maybe it’s your grip, alignment, or ball position. Concentrating on one swing fault makes things easier. Make up your mind as to what part of the game you’re going to work on before you get to the range, and then do it when you get there.

3. Take your time at the range—Business people are especially prone to this. You are so concerned about getting back to the office, you don’t devote any thought to what you’re working on. You hit balls so frantically that you don’t have time to concentrate on anything worthwhile.

The solution is to give yourself a little extra time to work on your game. We know it’s hard. Even people taking golf lessons have a hard time doing it. But try your best. Remember your practice sessions don’t have to be long. They just have to be effective. It’s better to hit 25 balls slowly with purpose, than 50 quickly with no purpose.

4. Pick out a target—You’ve probably read this suggestion in my golf tips articles. Many golfers have an idea where they want to hit the ball, but nothing specific. Your alignment tends to suffer the most with this approach. Without working on it in practice, you align your body differently than you do on the course. The end result is that you end up developing swing flaws.
Here’s what to do: Choose a specific target. Maybe it’s a patch of dirt or a bush. Make it as specific as possible. Then put a club on the ground to help you align yourself properly. Such an approach is extremely valuable. Then when you’re on the course, you’ll find it easier to align yourself properly every time you hit.

5. Don’t spend too much time hitting the driver—Watch a lot of people at the range. You will probably see most of these golfers hitting the driver. In fact, that’s all they do. Shot after shot after shot. Sure, it’s fun to hit the ball long and far. But it doesn’t do much good when you’re on the course and you have to hit a 7-iron on the green, as I tell those who attend my golf instruction sessions.

To really lower your golf handicap, spend most of your time hitting your short irons and wedges. These are the keys to generating lower scores. And don’t forget to work on your putting. That’s paramount. Sure you want to work on your full swing. But don’t forget to work on other parts of your game.

There you have it—five tips that will help you get the most out of your practice. Just remember if you’re serious about improving your game, you still must practice, even if it doesn’t make you perfect.

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.

=================================================== How To Break 80 Newsletter

January 3, 2007

“The Web’s Most Popular Golf Improvement Newsletter”
===================================================

In this issue we’ll discuss…

1) Ladies—Increasing Your Power
2) Pitching: Achieving Pinpoint Accuracy
3) Question of the Week- Correcting Pulls and Slices
4) Article- Practical Golf Lessons: Second-Serve Golf
5) Article- Five Things To Keep In Mind For Proper Practice

===================================================
1) Ladies—Increasing Your Power
===================================================
One reason women don’t hit a golf ball as far as men isn’t because they aren’t as strong as men. Sure there’s a strength factor to hitting a golf ball for distance. We can’t deny that. But many women fail to generate power because they use little or no wrist action during their swings. Instead, they “stiff-arm” the ball.

If you’re a woman who wants to hit the ball farther, here are 4 tips on how to do it.

1. Change to a two-handed grip
2. Cock your wrists on the way up
3. Uncock them on the way down
4. Re-cock them on the follow-through

First, change to a pure two-handed grip. It improves wrist action and creates more clubhead speed and power. Just place your right hand (right-handers) below your left on the club, just like you were holding a baseball bat. Don’t interlock your fingers. This grip gives you a feeling of more power because it places more emphasis on your stronger right hand.

When you start swinging the club, focus on cocking your wrists as you take the club back, and uncocking them when you come down with the club. Focus, also, on cocking your wrists through follow-through. Cock and uncocking your wrists during your swing generates additional power. Take some practice swings doing this until you feel comfortable doing cocking and uncocking your wrists.

Now do the following drill. Take a short iron and stick a tee into the end of the grip. Make half-swings, swinging the club freely back and forth, cocking and uncocking your wrists. When you cock your wrists on the way up, make sure the tee is pointing to the ground. Next, hit some shots off the tee with your mini-swing.

After doing that for a while, take your driver, grab it by the head, and swish the end of the grip through impact as loudly as you can, without swinging our of sync. The louder the swish, the more power generated.

Work on this drill next time you’re on the practice range. Doing so embeds the correct wrist action in your swing. You’ll be amazed how far you hit the ball just by correctly cocking and uncocking your wrists.

=================================================== 2) Pitching: Achieving Pinpoint Accuracy
===================================================
Good pitching requires pinpoint accuracy. You have a small margin for error when pitching, so you need to make good contact with the ball. The only way you can do this well is by swinging the club down and into the ball on the correct path and angle, not around your body.

Since you’re usually using one of the most upright clubs in the back to pitch with, the angle into the ball must be steep. Otherwise, your shot will be off and the results will not be good.

Here are 5 tips to achieving a steep swing angle:

1. Hinge your wrists
2. Sense the shaft moving vertically
3. Make ball-turf contact
4. Make the follow-through a mirror image
5. Think about a smooth rhythm

Your wrists are keys to pitching accuracy. As you turn and move the club away from the ball, allow your wrists to hinge vertically, both on the way back and on the follow-through. Sense the shaft moving vertically, not horizontally, as you make the shot.

As you practice hinging your wrists, you’ll begin to feel that the club is much more on line approaching impact as your body turns through the shot. Work on achieving solid ball-turf contact. And aim to make your follow through a virtual mirror image of your backswing position. Think about achieving a smooth rhythm, too. It’s critical on pitch shots.

To ensure your swing is on the right path and plane, try this drill:

• Set up for a normal pitch shot. Then put an umbrella or an old shaft in the ground about two feet outside your right foot, in line with your right heel. Place another one outside your left foot, keeping it in line with your heel. Then swing the club without touching either of the umbrellas or shafts. As you swing back hinge your wrists and try to set the club on its end. so that the grip points to the ground. Do the same in the follow-through. Now hit a few shots.

Practice this drill often. It will pay off with more accurate pitches. And remember, with pitching there’s a small margin for error, so need to be on the correct path and plane to be accurate.

=================================================== 3) Question of the Week- Correcting Pulls and Slices
=================================================== From Don Silver

Correcting Pulls and Slices

Q. Hi, Jack. I have trouble with my irons. I pull to the left, which makes it hard for me to hit the greens. Thanks. Keep on sending the good info it really helps.

A. Thanks for the question, Don. Pulls and slices are two of the most common swing faults in golf. While different, they stem from the same flaw—swinging out-to-in. Check your divots next time you play. If they point left of target, you’re swinging out-to-in, instead of in-to-out.

The deciding factor, as far as whether you slice or pull, is the position of the clubface at impact. If the clubface is closed you’ll pull the ball. If it’s open, you’ll slice it.

To eliminate pulls, you need to (1) swing the club on an in-to-out swing path and (2) change the position of the clubface through impact. Below are three ways to do both:

• Close the overall alignment of your body. Aim your feet, hips, and shoulders to the right of the target and move the ball back a little in your stance.

• Visualize yourself standing on a clock face, with the ball in the center and 12 o’clock representing the target. When you swing the club, it should feel as if it was traveling from 7 o’clock to 1 o’clock.

• Hit balls from a sidehill lie. Just make sure you position the ball several inches above your feet.

Any of these three techniques will help you overcome a pull. Try all three. Use the one that works best for you.

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

Also, for past issues of this newsletter and some of my most
recent articles, visit our blog at www.HowToBreak80.com/blog

To view this newsletter online, please visit:
http://www.howtobreak80.com/newsletter01032007.html
Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article- Practical Golf Lessons: Second-Serve Golf

5) Article- Five Things To Keep In Mind For Proper Practice

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, send a blank email to
break80ezine@aweber.com
=================================================== 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.

Know what a second serve is? In professional tennis a player gets two chances to serve. Usually, his or her first try is a “power shot.” The server puts everything into the shot and tries to rifle it passed his opponent for an “ace.” An ace is a shot that the second player fails to return on the serve.

If the server misses the first shot, he or she hits a second. The goal of the server hitting the second shot is to get the ball in play. Since a miss here costs points, the server takes something off the shot to make sure he or she gets it in play. That’s the second serve.

What’s this have to do with improving your golf game? Actually, it has a lot to do with it. You can use the idea of the second shot in tennis as a practical on-course golf lesson to improve your game, a golf lesson that gives you a chance to learn by doing. It’s akin to getting instant golf tips after hitting shots.

Below are some examples of what I call second-serve techniques. Experienced teaching pros provided these examples. They’re not only simple to do, they’re also fun to try.

A Month of Mulligans
Golf instructor John Elliot suggested this one. The problem with golf is that you only get one shot. That’s what creates tension on the course. If you miss the shot, you end up somewhere you don’t want to be. Often, you know exactly what you did wrong on the shot and how to correct it. Maybe you used the wrong club, or you tried to hit the shot too hard. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to hit the shot again?

Go ahead. Take another try at it. Give yourself a month of mulligans. Course and time permitting, play for a week or month giving yourself a mulligan on every shot. If you hit a bad shot, drop a second ball and hit the shot again. See if you can hit it better. It’s a great learning device, something I’ve used in golf instruction sessions with students.

After a month or so, reduce the time period to a week. Then try a day or two. After that, try a mulligan per hole for a day. You get the idea. Make it into a game with yourself. This second-serve technique will not only improve your shotmaking but also your consistency.

Apply the 10-Yard Rule
Here’s another example I use when giving golf lessons. This one comes from Bob Toski, a teaching pro. Apply the 10-yard rule to your bad shots. Instead of playing from the rough or the bunker, play from the fairway. If the ball goes into the rough or fairway, drop a ball 10 yards back, but don’t take a penalty shot. Then hit the shot.

Toski’s second-shot technique improves shotmaking and injects more consistency in your game. It also builds confidence because you begin to recognize how it feels hitting the ball from the fairway all the time. In addition, it teaches you why it’s important to stay on the fairway. Most people improve their scores by 5 to 10 shots per round using this technique. Try it for a month, a week, or whatever feels comfortable. You’ll see improvement.

Use a Shorter Club
Teaching pro Peter Kostis, who you’ve probably heard on golf telecasts, recommends this example. Many recreational golfers fire away when hitting from the tee. They grab their drivers, take their stance, and blast away. They’re so pre-occupied with distance that they’re unwilling to give up the 20 or 30 yards a long club produces. Unfortunately, this approach often gets them into trouble.

If that’s you, try this second-serve technique. Every time you hit a bad drive, tee up a second ball but use the 3-wood or 5-wood instead. Take a shorter, more relaxed swing. Going to a shorter club has its advantages. It takes the pressure off and makes hitting the fairway easier. Try this technique for a round or two. See how it works. You’ll probably generate better scores.

There’s three examples from teaching pros. But you don’t have to be a pro to come up with one of these second-serve techniques. You can do it yourself. It’s relatively easy. Just make sure it has some instructional value to it.

Regardless of who comes up with the technique, second-serve golf improves your game and helps reduce your scores over the long term. In addition, you’ll enjoy playing more and generate a lower golf handicap. Give it a try.

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.