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

March 7, 2007

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

In this issue we’ll discuss…

1) Developing a Power-Rich Draw
2) Hitting the Running Chip Shot
3) Question of the Week- Try Lag Putting On Long Putts
4) Article- Choosing the Right Golf Teacher
5) Article- Controlling Ballflight Trajectory

===================================================
1) Developing a Power-Rich Draw
===================================================
If you’ve ever wondered why you can’t hit a draw or eliminate your fade, the key may lie in your right elbow. Keeping it tucked helps produce a power draw, which generates extra distance when the ball hits the ground.

For years there’s been a debate on what to do with the right elbow. Players like Jack Nicklaus and John Daily swing with their elbows flying out. Players like Sergio Garcia and Laura Diaz swing with their elbows tucked, proving you can hit great shots with either method.

Biomechanical studies indicate that using a flying elbow usually produces a fade, while employing a tucked elbow favors a draw. (Plus, when you let the right elbow fly, you tend to raise your right shoulder, which almost always causes an over-the-top movement.) So if you want to develop a power-rich draw, you may need to keep the right elbow tucked during your swing.

Here are 5 tips on hitting that power draw:
1. Adopt a closed stance
2. Use a stronger left-hand grip
3. Follow an inside track
4. Aim right at the top of the swing
5. Release the club through impact

Changing your stance encourages a draw. By moving your right foot back a little to create a closed stance, you change your swing path. Instead of producing an out-to-in path, you generate an in-to-out path, which produces the draw. Adopting a slightly stronger left-hand grip encourages a more active release of the hands, helping to impart sidespin on the ball.

With this stance and your elbow tucked, the clubhead will follow an inside track (inside the target line) on the takeaway and backswing. The club points to the right of the target at the top of the backswing. How far right depends on how much of a hook you want to play. Feel the club’s toe pass its heel, as you release your hands.

Remember, if you want to hit a power draw, keep your elbow tucked, use a closed stance, adopt a stronger left-hand grip, point the club to the right of the target, and hit the ball at the 4 o’clock position. These changes will convert your long fade to a power-rich draw.

=================================================== 2) Hitting the Running Chip Shot
===================================================
Some courses feature numerous uphill slopes to the green. In fact, if you’ve watched The Masters tournament on television, played at the Augusta National Country Club, you’ll see the pros left with plenty of short uphill shots. When faced with a short uphill shot, the pros use a variety of methods to execute it, from putting to chipping with a fairway wood.

But the best play for the weekend golfer is the running chip shot?a short-swing shot that minimizes the risk of hitting the ball past the hole. The objective of the running chip shot is to hit the ball in the air for a few feet, have it land on the green, and then have it run to the hole like a putt. It’s an ideal shot for players who don’t have a lot of control of spin and speed around the green.

Below are 5 tips to hitting the running chip shot:

- Use a 6- or 7-iron
- Position the ball back in the stance
- Lean toward the target
- Swing with your arms and shoulders
- Hit down on the ball

Club selection is one of the keys to the running chip shot. Use a 6- or -7-iron and play the ball back in your stance?almost opposite your back foot. Lean three-quarters of your weight toward the target, and swing the cub with your arms and shoulders only, hitting down on the ball.

When you swing, try pinching the ball against the turf. The descending shot kills the club’s momentum, cutting off the follow-through. The ball jumps forward, bounces a few times, and then rolls like a putt. With practice, you’ll be able to get the ball to within a foot or two of the hole.

To practice this shot, stick a shaft in the ground about a foot ahead of your front foot and practice hitting down on the ball. The goal is to hit the ball without letting the club hit the shaft. With your weight pushed forward and the ball back, you’ll swing down sharply, reducing your follow-through.

The running chip shot is great for weekend golfers, since it minimizes the risk of hitting the ball past the green and doesn’t require a lot of control. But you need to work on it in practice to perfect it. Once you do, you’ll find it helpful on uphill shots.

=================================================== 3) Question of the Week- Try Lag Putting On Long Putts
=================================================== From Tom Williams

Try Lag Putting On Long Putts

Q. Hi, Jack. I’ve enjoyed reading your e-book, ?How to Break 80.? It’s helped me lower my score, but I’m not breaking 80 yet. One reason is a difficulty with judging distance on putts. Nothing is more frustrating than hitting a good drive and a nice iron onto a par four green and three or (gasp) four putting. From 15 to 30 feet it’s all too easy to be 8 feet short or 8 feet past, with a lot of golf left, even if the line was pretty good. Is there a method more reliable than “touch” that can disappear under pressure?

A. Good question, Tom. Long putts are difficult. If you misjudge the distance, you can send the ball well past the hole, leaving you with a tricky putt coming back. When faced with a 20- to 40-foot putt, I lag putt. It reduces the chances of three putting and takes some of the pressure off me to sink the putt.

The trick when lag putting is to focus on putting the ball to within two or three feet of the hole. That’s easier than trying to sink the putt.

Try this approach next time you have a long putt:

- Step off the distance to the hole
- Take practice strokes behind the ball
- Stand tall in your stance.
- Imagine a two-foot ring around the hole
- Take a long smooth stroke

Step off the distance to the hole to get a true feel for the putt’s length, and take your practice strokes behind the ball but facing the target. That gives you a feel for the right stroke. Also, stand tall at address, which encourages a long, smooth stroke. Before putting, imagine a two-foot ring around the hole. Aim for it when you putt. It’s easier to putt to the ring than to the hole, taking pressure off you to sink the putt. And make sure your follow through equals your takeaway.

To improve distance control, practice putting from the fringe of a green. Try stopping the ball as close to the opposite fringe as possible. Also, try putting with your eyes closed. Blind putting forces you to visualize the stroke needed to sink the putt. It really helps with feel and speed. And putt with confidence. It’s probable the single biggest factor in putting.

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/newsletter03072007.html
Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article- Choosing the Right Golf Teacher

5) Article- Controlling Ballflight Trajectory

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.

Healthy eating before and during a round of golf may be just the boost you need to take your game to a new level. Just look at the increasing number of golfers on the tour slimming down, eating healthier, and playing better golf. Everyone realizes that it’s good to eat healthy

But nutrition is not a common topic in golf instruction sessions or golf tips. Most golf lessons and golf tips focus on how to swing a club or how to play a certain shot, not on what to eat while playing 18 holes. If you’re not learning how to putt better, you?re correcting a swing fault. Nevertheless, the fact remains: All golfers can benefit from better nutrition and proper hydration.

Avoiding a Quick High
Many golfers get a little hungry during a round. To satisfy this hunger, they often eat foods that give a quick energy boost. A candy bar, bagel, cookie, hot dog, soda, or a beer are probably the most popular foods consumed during a round of golf, at least judging by students who take my golf lessons. While these foods are among our favorites on or off the course, they don’t help you play your best.

These foods give you a quick high. But the high is inevitably followed by an energy crash, as the body releases insulin to combat the sudden elevation of blood sugar. The insulin release makes you feel tired and sluggish. No one I know plays his or her best golf when feeling tired and lethargic. Just swinging a club seems like a real chore. You also tend to lose confidence in yourself when you feel tired. But eating the right foods helps maintain your energy level.

Eating Before A Round
The key to eating before (or after) a round is consuming healthy foods, foods that don’t add extra fats or empty calories. You should be thinking whole foods and nutritional balance instead. Don’t have a huge bowl of pasta with a slice of white bread before a match. That just adds a lot of empty carbohydrates and not much else. Instead, eat a side dish of pasta (whole grain, if possible) or whole grain bread with a small piece of meat, fish, or chicken (no skin).

Fruits and vegetables also are good to have before (or during) a round. In fact, they?re good to have anytime. They act like nutritional bodyguards. They contain antioxidants, which protect the body’s cells from potentially harmful chemical reactions. Fruits and vegetables should be a part of your diet whether you’re playing a round or not.

A good rule of thumb to keep in mind when it comes to eating before (or after) a round is to go for a variety of color. If your plate is made up of foods having the same hue, your nutritional balance is probably off. So you’ll want to make some changes. And, of course, you should drink 64 ounces of water a day. Drinking water before or after a round keeps you hydrated and healthy.

During A Round
For snacks during a round, forget the traditional convenience foods. Leave things like energy bars, sports drinks full of sugars, salty chips made with unhealthy trans fats are best alone. Also, beware of foods that seem healthy but really aren’t. Many yogurts, for example, contain high doses of sugar. Some ‘multi-grain’ snacks are no better for you than their process grained counterparts.

When you have snacks during a round, choose natural sources of protein and fat, such as nuts and jerky. You can also have carbohydrates in the form of fruits and whole grains. Instead of a beer or a soda, have water. These are better for you both during and after a round.

Older Golfers
Older golfers especially they have to watch what they eat before, during, and after a match. As a golfer gets older, you need to consume enough protein to maintain muscle mass. The body functions best when it has a constant supply of protein, from which to draw. Small amounts of meat, poultry (no skin), fish, nuts, and cheese, distributed among your meals and snacks, are excellent choices.

Eating healthy won’t help you cut your golf handicap overnight. You’ll still have to take golf lessons, read golf tips, and practice as often as you can. But one thing is certain. All golfers can benefit from better nutrition and hydration, two factors that play a key role in energy availability and utilization.

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.

Golf doesn’t have an overabundance of rules. But the few it has, as I tell players who come to for golf lessons, are sometimes misinterpreted. What’s more,local rules covering specific situations at a course often complicate the rules when playing in a tournament. In some cases local rules apply to only one category of golfer, such as a tour professional, and not to the rest of us.

If all that sounds confusing, don’t be alarmed. Deciding which rules apply in a given situation is tricky sometimes. And if you get it wrong, it usually costs you strokes. In some cases, it costs you your place in a tournament. That’s why it’s good to review the rules of golf periodically to make sure you understand the remedies that apply in different situations. Take this weird situation, told to me by someone who took one of my golf instruction sessions.

The Situation
Darren Clarke is a veteran tour professional. Several years ago Darren was among the leaders in the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open when he hit a tee shot into a greenside bunker at the par-3 16th hole. He bladed his next shot, and it sailed over the green into some thick undergrowth. Darren left the bunker and traipsed over to the undergrowth to look for his ball.

After finding what he thought was his ball, Darren declared it unplayable (Rule 28) and pondered one of his three options. He could take a one-stroke penalty and go back to the bunker to hit. He could drop a ball within two club lengths of where the ball came to rest, but no nearer the hole. Or, he could drop behind the point where the ball was, keeping the point directly between the hole and that spot, with no limit to how far behind the point the ball could be dropped.

The Decision
Taking a one-stroke penalty, Darren chose to return to the bunker and hit from there. He put his forth shot on the green. However, when he marked the ball, he discovered it wasn?t his ball and notified one of the rules officials, who ordered the search for Darren?s ball renewed. When Darren couldn?t find the ball, the official had him play from the bunker again. Darren blasted out of the bunker to within a foot of the pin, and then tapped it in for a double bogey.

Did the official apply the correct rule to the situation? Keep in mind, as I often mentioned in my golf tips, misinterpreting the rules can cost you, whether it?s stroke or match play. In Darren’s case he was among the leaders of a tournament where a great deal of money was at stake, not to mention what other things a win could affected as far as his professional careers was concerned.

After the Tournament
After the tournament, Darren discovered that the official applied the wrong ruling to the situation. The first ball Darren dropped in the bunker should have been considered in play. It wasn’t necessary to hit a third shot from the bunker. Two rules decisions (27/17 and 28/14) clarify this point. But it was too late by then. The official ruling stood.

Had the ball Clarke found and played not been the same type as the one he lost, he would have been assessed a two-shot penalty under the one ball rule, a local rule used on the PGA tour. A tour player cannot change the type of ball he uses during a round, but a handicap player, like the rest of us, can change brands during a round.

Clarke eventually finished tied for eighth place in the tournament behind winner Padrig Harrington. Those extra strokes tacked on to Darren’s score may not have made him a winner, but he might have been able to move up a couple of places and could have collected more money. As I said, it pays to know the rules.

Golf doesn’t have as many rules as some other sports do. And most of the times they’re pretty clear. But odd situations can cause confusion about the rules, leading to misinterpretation. Regardless of how much golf you play, you should know the rules of the game. So review them periodically. If you have questions, see your club pro or consult the rulebook.

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

February 28, 2007

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

In this issue we’ll discuss…

1) Using the Fingers Grip
2) Perfecting Your Swing Plane
3) Article- Rules and Remedies: Unplayable Lies
4) Article- Nutrition 101: What To Eat (And Not) In Order To Play Better Golf

===================================================
1) Using the Fingers Grip
===================================================
If you want to add power to your swing, increase control of your clubhead, and maybe even eliminate a slice that?s been plaguing you for years, adopt a grip that places more of the handle in your fingers, and less in your palms.

Many beginning golfers have problems gripping a club correctly. But they’re not alone. Even veteran golfers grip the club incorrectly. Having gotten used to a grip after using it for so many years, they have a hard time changing grips, even though it could improve their games.

Among the biggest gripping problems is holding the club too much with the palms of your hands. Holding a club too much in the palms causes two things to happen. And both of them are bad for your game.

First, you short-circuit power. Your fingers are the fastest parts of your body. If you’re not using them, you?re robbing your swing of tons of potential speed. Second, you lose some control. You can?t grab an object with your palms as tightly as you can with your fingers. Thus, you lose some control of the clubhead as it speeds through the hitting zone.

Next time you’re at the practice range try this approach to gripping a club. Instead of gripping it with your palms and then wrapping your fingers around the handle, try gripping the club with your fingers, then wrapping your palms around the club. For golfers with less overall strength, try gripping the club with all 10 fingers instead of using an interlocking or overlapping grip. Now hit some balls with the new grip.

The results may surprise you. You?ll not only gain a true whip of the club through impact, but you’ll also increase your feel of the club. That means you’ll be able to feel the clubhead square up through the contact area, just as it should, resulting in a longer, straighter shot.

If you want to generate more power from your swing, try gripping the club with your fingers more. It increases the speed of the clubhead through the impact zone, improves the feel of the club at impact, and generates longer, straighter shots. It may even help you produce that power curve you?ve always wanted to hit.

=================================================== 2) Perfecting Your Swing Plane
===================================================
Swing plane is among the most important concepts in golf. It?s also one of the most intimidating and confusing ideas to weekend golfers because many are unsure what it is, let alone why it?s important. But if you can perfect your swing plane, you?ll hit the ball straighter and farther.

To envision a swing plane, stand at address with a ball on the ground in front of you. Now imagine a dotted line drawn from the ball, along the clubshaft and up past the club?s grip. This is your swing plane line.

As you take the club away, it should remain on the dotted line until it?s parallel to the ground, or about a quarter of the way through your takeaway. From there the club may move slightly above the dotted line as it reaches the top of your backswing. That?s a natural result of the lifting action of your arms.

Below are five tips to perfecting your swing plane:

1. Rotate your upper body
2. Maintain the ?triangle?
3. Keep hands parallel to target line
4. Keep the bend in your knees
5. Stay above swing plane

To create a perfect swing plane, rotate your upper body against your hips, keeping them steady. Maintain the triangle formed by your hands, wrists, and forearms during the initial stages of the backswing, but keep the hands moving parallel to the target line. Also keep the bend in your knees assumed at address, creating a solid platform to support your turn. Don?t allow the club to move behind you or under the swing plane.

The natural change of direction from backswing to downswing will drop the club on the dotted line, so that the clubhead approaches the ball on the same plane as it was at address. Through impact, the rotation of your forearms keeps the club on the dotted line well into the finish.

Swing plane is a critical concept in golf. Perfecting it helps you not only hit the ball better, it also improve your scores and your game.

===================================================
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/newsletter02212007.html
Here are some of my recent articles:

3) Article- Rules and Remedies: Unplayable Lies

3) Article- Nutrition 101: What To Eat (And Not) In Order To Play Better Golf

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.