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How To Break 80 Newsletter

October 24, 2007

“The Web’s Most Popular Golf Improvement Newsletter”
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In this issue we’ll discuss…

1) Hitting It High With Your Irons
2) Five Golf Keys To Excellent Golf
3) Question of the Week - Refining Your Short Game
4) Article - Mirror, Mirror On The Wall…
5) Article - Three Drills To Groove Your Swing

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1) Hitting It High With Your Irons
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A young pro who just started teaching asked me what advice I give to new players who come to me for lessons. What I told her was that one of my goals with new students is to provide them with a mental approach to playing and practicing that makes things more productive. I boil it down to five keys that can take with them when they leave the course. Turns out, these same five keys can help any golfer better.

Mental keys to playing better golf

1. Don’t help the ball in the air
2. Hit down to make the ball go up
3. Let the clubface open then close
4. Let your hips turn during the downswing
5. A square aim cures pulls.

Golf is counterintuitive. That’s one way of saying golf is weird. Doing the opposite of what you want the ball to do often achieves your goal. For example, when you want to hit a ball high from the fairway, don’t try to help the ball in the air or scoop. Trust the loft of the club and let it do its work. A corollary to this is, if you want to hit the ball up, hit down on it instead. The more you hit down on it, the higher it goes.

If you find yourself slicing the ball, don’t get frustrated. To correct it, set the clubface square to the target. Now let the blade of the club open on the backswing and then close on the downswing. Opening and closing the clubface encourages you to make a fuller body turn. By making a fuller body turn, you’re more likely to return the club back to the ball along an inside line.

Golfers who pull shots left often compensate by aiming right at address and vice versa. That doesn’t solve the problem. Instead, set up with your feet and shoulders square to the line of play. In addition, aggressively turning your hips on the downswing helps to delay the turning of the shoulders until the last moment, which also helps you swing the club from the inside out.

No doubt about it. Golf is a crazy game. But if you keep these five ideas firmly in mind next time you’re playing a round or practicing at the range, you can keep yourself from screaming in frustration and cut some strokes from your golf handicap.

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2) Five Golf Keys To Excellent Golf
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It’s never fun when you find a green tucked into a tight place, especially when you need to hit a long iron. If you miss the shot, you can find yourself in real trouble. So you really need to stick it with your approach shot. Players who naturally hit the ball high have an advantage here. For the rest of us, we need to work at hitting the ball high to do it when we need to it.

Below are six keys to this shot:

1. Visualize the shot
2. Take a good practice swing
3. Play the ball just forward of center
4. Trap the ball against the turf
5. Stay connected
6. Follow through to a high finish

Whether you’re hitting to a tight pin or a hard and fast green, being able to hit the ball high and drop it on the green is a big plus, especially with a long iron. To be successful with this shot, try visualizing it before addressing the ball. Then, take a good practice swing, simulating the shot. Remind yourself you need to launch it into the air.

At address, play the ball just forward of center with long irons and trap the ball against the turf at impact. Good players will often take a larger divot in this situation as they try to really spin the ball. Also, stay connected with both your upper and lower body. Many players lose this connection in this situation. Finally, follow through to a high finish. It’s the key to this shot.

Many players have traded in their long irons for hybrids. If you haven’t and you’re still using them, being able to hit them high and drop the ball softly on the green saves pars and cuts strokes. Use the keys above and practice hitting the ball high with your long irons next time you’re at the range. Knowing how to do it will pay off.

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3) Question of the Week - Refining Your Short Game
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Q. Dear Jack, My biggest problem when I play is my short game. When it comes to hitting these shots, most of the time I either hit a dough or my club head will hit the ball twice. That causes me to add 3 to 4 strokes to my score. I’ve tried many fixes—hold the club lightly, put weight on the left side, just use my hands, eyes on the ball, and many other ways. But nothing’s worked.

Please, please help me.

Many thanks
Ngion peter

A. Thanks for the question. Learning how to hit a chip or pitch shot is easy. Learning to hit one accurately is not. With you, it sounds like you know how to hit a chip shot or a pitch shot, but you’re afraid to trust the clubface’s loft to do its work. That leads you to hit weak shots, which in turn, damages your confidence. Hence, you hit more weak shots. You need to build trust in the club’s loft and self-confidence in the shot. The two drills I detail below will help.

Chip Off A Tee Drill
This drill’s goal is to teach you how to get the ball up and over the fringe, limiting spin so the ball runs on a steady pace and finishes within three feet of the hole. First. Tee up six balls in a row, six inches apart. Assume your chipping set-up and hit the shots one after another with no pause between shots. Focus on swinging your shoulders and arms together, keeping your hands quiet and ahead of the clubface.

Sweep the Grass Drill
This drill is another way to build trust in the club’s loft. This drill also teaches you to minimize wrist activity and keep your clubhead on a shallow descent, which minimizes spin. Place the ball on the first cut of the rough, just outside the fringe. Make sure the grass is about one inch to one and a half inches high. Practice sweeping the tips of the grass instead of hitting the ball. You want to create a low back and low through motion by using just your shoulders and arms. Place a ball a few inches outside the spot where you’re sweeping the grass. After 10 sweeps, move immediately to the ball and chip it using the same motion.

Also, don’t forget to rotate your body during the shot. If you don’t rotate, your arms collapse ad your body stops turning. If your arms collapse and your body stops turning, the bottom of your swing ends up behind the ball, creating a fat or bladed shot. You must extend your arms and rotate your body to chip accurately.

Plenty of drills exist that will help you improve both your technique and your accuracy. Combine those drills with those above and practice as often as you can. Practicing, in turn, builds confidence in the shot, which pays off on the course.

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.

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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/newsletter10242007.html

Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article - Mirror, Mirror On The Wall…
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/mirror.html

5) Article - Three Drills To Groove Your Swing
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/swingdrills.html

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

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About the Author
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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

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