Swinging a club powerfully and efficiently is based on what our bodies can do. As we get older, what we can do changes. Without maintaining strength and flexibility, we lose our ability to swing a club powerfully and efficiently. If you want to maintain a low golf handicap, you must maintain your strength and flexibility.

Exercising helps. We're not talking about lifting weights or running 5K races. While resistance training and running are good, you don't have to become a body builder to maintain your golf handicap. Stretching is just as effective. It's just a matter of pinpointing weak areas and using the right exercises to improve those areas.

Some strength and conditioning experts believe that the body's a series of mobility and stability joints. When a mobility joint is weak and malfunctioning, a stability joint compensates. This causes instability, dysfunction, and pain. If your hip—a mobility joint—malfunctions, then your lower back—a stability joint—compensates and you experience lower back pain.

Do two sets of each exercise (8 repetitions). Repeat in the opposite direction if the movement is to one side.

Over the Top
Coming over the top with your swing is one of a weekend golfer's most common mistakes. Weekend players attend thousands of golf lessons every year trying to cure this problem, created by the inability to turn your upper and lower bodies independently of each other, to no avail. The swing flaw causes you to come straight down with your swing, resulting in slices and pulls.

Supported Stork Turns:
Hold onto a club and stand on one leg, using the club as a support. Keep your shoulders square and rotate your pelvis back and forth.

Chicken Wing
If your shoulders are inflexible, you'll have difficulty rotating. Shoulder problems can cause the front arm to jut away from the body at the elbow during the through swing and look like a chicken wing. This flaw can cause elbow tendonitis and sliced shots.

Windshield Wipers:
This exercise uses lightweight dumbbells. Holding the dumbbells in front of you while in your golf posture, rotate your arms away from each other as far as you can.

Body Sway
I've discussed this flaw in my golf tips a few times. If your hips are inflexible, your body can't turn properly. Instead of rotating, your hips turn away from the target in the backswing and your body weight shifts outside your feet. You end up hitting thin or fat shots.

Kneeling Long Turns:
Line your feet behind each other and kneel while holding a club overhead. Turn your body as far as you can each way when in the kneeling position.

Flat Shoulder Pain:
If you have back problems and your shoulders are tight, then you will have a tendency to lose your posture during your swing and make a poor body turn. The club will be off plane. This flaw makes it difficult to produce solid contact.

Reach, roll, and lift:
From a crouching position with your head resting on your fist on one hand, slide your other arm along the ground as far as you can and then lift it as you roll your palm upward toward the sky. Hold this position for 15 seconds, and then switch arms.

Getting Stuck:
If you have issues with your lower body, especially your ankles, your pelvis will thrust forward on the downswing and then move forward into the space where the club was supposed to travel. The club gets stuck behind the body, leading to blocked and hooked shots.

Ankle Wipers:
Sit on a physio ball and lift your toes to the right and left, like a windshield wiper, keeping your heal on the ground and your knees still.

The exercises described above help you maintain strength and flexibility in your mobility joints. They address five key mobility areas that weaken as golfers age. The exercises—if done correctly and faithfully—improve your flexibility and strength in these areas and help you swing a club more powerfully and efficiently. That in turn helps you maintain your golf handicap.

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.

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How To Break 80 Newsletter

January 8, 2008

"The Web's Most Popular Golf Improvement Newsletter"
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In this issue we'll discuss...
1) Hitting It Thin
2) Adding Kick To Your Drives
3) Question of the Week - Producing a Powerful Swing
4) Article - Five Exercises To Lower Your Golf Handicap
5) Article - Four Golf Tips On Beating Blocked Shots

Jack's Note: Congrats to Daniel Chopra on winning the inaugural event for the PGA Tour this season. Also, Tiger Woods was quoted as saying that it’s “certainly within reason” of his chances regarding another Tiger Slam in 08. Pretty exciting stuff in my book. And while it’s winter out there for most of us, make the most of it. I like to work on my stance, posture and set up. I also use a mat with a net I can hit into that sits in my garage and spend a lot of time putting on my rugs. More often than not, my putting needs very little work when the weather improves because of this practice. Give it a whirl yourself so you don’t get too rusty.

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1) Hitting It Thin
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Hitting the ball thin—also known as skulling—is common among weekend golfers. It's also frustrating when hitting an approach shot. Skulling an approach shot not only ruins your approach, but adds strokes to your score as well. Instead of being on the green sizing up a putt, you're in the fairway considering your next shot, or worse.

If you frequently hit your irons thin, keep these five swing keys in mind:
* Relax before hitting
* Swing your arms back wide
* Make a full shoulder turn
* Turn your back to the target
* Stay behind the ball

A poor backswing contributes to hitting a ball thin. A golfer who skulls a shot swings the club too steeply into the ball, which results from taking the club back too abruptly in the backswing. This forces the golfer to slide past the ball on the downswing, and requires him or her to swing the club straight down to make contact. As a result, the golfer slides too far past the ball and catches only the top of the ball.

The key to hitting a ball flush from the fairway—or anywhere else on the course—is making a full shoulder turn. Take your normal address position, and then take a couple of deep breaths to relax. You never want to rush your shot. It usually results in a bad one when you do.

Also, swing your arms back wide during your backswing. Make sure you turn your back to the target at the top of the swing, make a smooth transition, and turn completely through the swing. If you do all this, you'll make a more level strike at the ball and stop skulling the ball.

Hitting it thin is a common problem. You can hit the ball thin anywhere on the course and with any shot, but it's really frustrating when you're hitting an approach shot. If you relax before hitting the shot and make a full shoulder turn before committing to your downswing, you'll hit the ball flush every time, cutting strokes from you score.

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2) Adding Kick To Your Drives
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Small moves sometime bring big results. Jack Nicklaus turned his head slightly to the right before starting his swing to kick-start his swing. Gary Player kicked in his left leg a little before beginning his swing. These moves, which triggered their drives, initiated their backswings, and added rhythm to their swings, worked wonders for Jack and Gary during their playing days.

Flexing your back knee slightly is when on the tee is a small thing, but it can produce big results for you and your golf handicap. Flexing your knee
* Relieves body tension
* Supports good posture
* Increases swing fluidity
* Delivers clubhead speed
* Promotes extra power

Many weekend golfers lock their back knees when swinging down on the ball, causing them to hang back in their swings and hit weakly off the back foot. Others move the back knee laterally toward the target, resulting in the hips sliding forward instead of rotating around the body's trunk. Both moves short-circuit power by preventing the golfer from shifting his weight to his front side.

Focus instead on flexing your back knee at address and during the downswing. Flexing your knee relieves body tension, supports correct posture, increases fluidity, and delivers more clubhead speed to the ball. In short, it promotes a powerful swing through the ball, generating more distance off the tee. And who doesn't want that?

Your back knee should point at the target line in front of the ball as the club approaches impact. To make sure it does, flex your knee slightly at address, which produces what many teachers call "a soft back leg" on the downswing. That in turn adds power and fluidity to your swing.
In golf small moves sometimes produce big results. Flex your back knee slightly at address and you'll see what I mean.
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3) Question of the Week - Producing a Powerful Swing
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Q. I started playing golf five years ago. I am a 21 handicap. For 2008 I would like to get down to a 15. I feel that my biggest problem is staying behind the ball during my weight shift on the downswing of the driver. I have problems sweeping the ball off the tee and pop up the golf ball a few times during a round. I am looking for a training aid or exercise routine that will help me with this problem. Hopefully you can help.

Thanks,
Rick Abend

A. Hitting pop-ups, as you've concluded, is a telltale sign that you're shifting your weight improperly. It's also a sign that you're approaching the ball on too steep an angle in your downswing. These faults cause you to pop the ball up. How do you eliminate them?

First, widen your stance a little, creating room for a bigger backswing arc. Second, focus on maintaining a higher position at the top of your backswing and a lower position at the finish. Third, take a full shoulder turn, making a slight hesitation and a smooth transition to your downswing. These changes, which encourage a proper weight shift and a higher and longer backswing arc, shallow out your swing plane and reduce the steepness of your downswing. Remember good weight shift is a key to a solid, powerful swing.

Here's a good exercise to work on:

Assume your setup position. Lift your front foot and position it next to your back foot. Now start your backswing. As you take the club away from the ball, lift your front foot and allow it to return to the original position in your setup as soon as your club reaches about waist high. Then complete your swing.

This drills teaches you to shift your weight first to your back foot at the beginning of your backswing and then to your front foot at the end of the backswing. It also promotes a better spin angle, both atop your swing and into the finish.

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/newsletter01082008.html

Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article - Five Exercises To Lower Your Golf Handicap
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/fivefixes.html

5) Article - Four Golf Tips On Beating Blocked Shots
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/block.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.

The key to hitting longer, straighter drives is squaring your clubface at impact. Anything less this results in either a weak drive or a slice or pull. To ensure you attain the correct impact position, your swing must be mechanically flawless or you must make pre-impact adjustments on the fly.

But making adjustments is not conducive to generating low scores or a low golf handicap. In fact, on-the-fly adjustments tend to do just the opposite, since they create a lot of opportunity for error. The goal then is to hone your swing so it is as technically perfect as you can make—not an easy task. Below are some drills that will help you grove your swing.

Triangle Takeaway Drill
The takeaway may be the most important move in the swing. It encourages good positions throughout the swing, increases your chances of executing a perfect swing, and delivers the clubhead squarely to the ball at impact—the key to hitting longer, straighter drives. This drill teaches you to stay connected during your swing, grove a one-piece takeaway, and employ a fuller body turn, creating added power:

Grip your driver a few inches below the club's handle. Place the club's butt end gently against your stomach at a point just above your navel. Now practice making small swings. Concentrate on keeping your arms close to your body with the club touching your navel. A lot of golf teachers use this drill in their golf lessons to help beginners groove the proper takeaway.

Thumbs-Up Drill
The next important phase of the swing after the takeaway is the backswing and the coking of the wrists. A mistake at this point in your swing causes a dramatically negative domino effect, with the club ending up well behind the body on the backswing. That in turn eliminates the chance of achieving square clubface-to-ball contact at impact.

Take your address position without a club. Swing back to chest level as if you had a club in your hands, making certain that your thumbs are angled up toward the sky. Hold that position for a few seconds, so you remember it and physically feel and grove it. Next, swing through to chest level, again making sure that your thumbs point at the sky. Practice this drill several times a day.

In-The-Slot-Drill
Players who fail to find the right slot in their downswing fail to have a square clubface at impact. Unfortunately, some players release their right wrist (left wrist for left-handers) and/or right elbow (left for left-handers) much too early in the downswing, causing a weak misdirected slice. This drill teaches you to maintain the proper wrist and elbow hinge until you reach the impact zone.

Take your address position and then swing the club to the top. Hold that position briefly. Now start unwinding your hips on the downswing. Simultaneously, drop your elbow down in front of your back hip then freeze this position. Feel the position of your arms but do not uncock the wrists. This move trains your wrist to remain cocked and teaches you to feel the sensation of delaying the hit, without feeling the need to pull on the butt end of the club.

Stop-And-Go Drill
One of the biggest mistakes weekend golfers make is triggering their downswing with either a violent body move or an exaggerated lower body slide. As a result, the player tends to come into the impact area with the clubface wide open and slice the ball severely. This drill teaches you to make a smooth transition and synchronize the downswing move with the rest of your body.

Take your address position and then swing the club back, stopping at the top of your stroke. Be sure at this stage to check that your weight is balanced. Hold that position for a few seconds. Next, complete the swing and trigger a perfect chain reaction by rotating your hips and legs smoothly toward the target. Many teachers use this drill during golf instruction sessions to teach an efficient, on plane move and for promoting good balance during the swing.

The Twenty Drill
Some golfers lose power on the downswing because they fail to accelerate their arms during this phase of the swing. As a result, the player hits balls much shorter than they should. The goal with this drill is to teach the player to swing the clubhead powerfully, so that by the time the club makes it to impact it is moving at high speed, enabling you to hit the ball longer with better height and carry.

Use your driver for this drill. Take your address position. Now swing the club back and through to the finish twenty times in a row without stopping. Ideally, you want to remain flat-footed through the impact zone. Some players are able to swing the club all the way through into the finish while remaining flat-footed. Swing as fast as possible. Do 20 swings in the morning and then 20 swings at night.
None of these drills require you to go to the practice range or the course. You can do them in your backyard or in your house or office. Work on the drills as often as you can. They'll help you achieve lower scores and whittle down that golf handicap.

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.

Chopping one's golf handicap down to single digits is many a golfer's dream. It's why one practices. Knocking strokes of your handicap is a sign of improvement and how well you're playing at the time—a sign that says you're a formidable or not so formidable opponent. So when serious golfers stop knocking strokes off their golf handicaps, they do something about it.

Usually, these golfers focus on improving their mechanics. They take golf lessons. They go to the driving range. They work on their chipping and putting. Whatever it is, their efforts are designed to cut strokes by improving their technique. There's nothing wrong with that. But what some players fail to realize is that they can cut strokes from their golf handicaps by just playing smarter golf.

Below are six on-course strategies that will change your game without changing your swing and help you play smarter.

Hit for the Fat Part of the Green
Among the keys to playing smart golf is playing within your capabilities. Far too many golfers aim for the pin on the green without considering its location. That can get you in deep trouble. Instead of hitting an approach shot to a pin near the green's edge or tucked away behind a bunker or two, aim for the fat part of the green. It's an easier shot, which takes pressure off you, and it lessens your chance of making a bogey or double bogey on the hole.

Forget About Your Mechanics
Too many golfers focus on their mechanics when playing. It's one of the most common mistakes golfers make. When you start tinkering with your swing on the course, you shift your mind from the strategy behind the game to the swing itself. You start playing golf swing instead of golf. That can cost you. Work on your mechanics when you're at the range, where you're free to make adjustments and change your swing without costing yourself strokes. When on the course, focus on strategy, not mechanics.

Divide and Conquer
Playing smart golf means making good decisions. To make better decisions, divide your clubs into three categories: 1) play it safe, 2) proceed with caution, and 3) go for it. Your play-it-safe clubs are your fairway woods and long irons. Your proceed-with-caution clubs are your 5-iron through 8-iron. Your go-for-it clubs are your 9-iron through wedges. When you choose a club, remember what category it's in and play within your capabilities.

Strive For Consistency
Ever wonder why you play well one day and poorly the next? One reason is rhythm and tempo. Inconsistency on the course is often related to poor tempo and rhythm. Tempo is the total amount of time it takes to make your swing, from beginning to end. Even though your swing is longer with a driver, it should take the same amount of time to create as it does with your pitching wedge. Rhythm describes how you split your time between your backswing and your forward swing. Like tempo, golf swing rhythm should be the same for every club and every type of swing.

Know When To Use The Driver
A smart golf knows when to hit the driver and when not to. Good driving isn’t hitting it long but securing a good position from which to hit the next shot. When determining whether or not to use the driver, start by deciding how far a second shot you want; then decide on the club. With a 3-wood the average shot might be about 230 yards, leaving 120 yards to the hole. Is gaining that extra 20 yards worth the risk of hitting the driver?

Of course, with driver clubheads getting bigger and bigger these days, you may find yourself going to the driver more than you did before. Bigger clubheads are more forgiving and somewhat safer. Nevertheless, you still need to know when to hit the driver and when not to.

Play Away From Trouble
Ever see a player with a big hook aim at a hazard or clump of trees with the idea that the natural hook on the golfer's ball will take him into the fairway? If the ball hooks, fine. If the ball doesn't hook, the golfer ends up in the hazard or the trees, costing him strokes. Play away from trouble. If you have a big hook, move to one end of the tee box and aim so that if your hook or slice doesn't materialize, you're not in trouble. That should cut a couple of strokes off your score.

Playing smarter golf is a simple way of achieving lower scores and lower golf handicaps without going to golf instruction sessions or spending extra time at the range. Review a course in your mind before playing it. Develop a plan for playing each hole. See where you can capitalize on some of the strategies discussed above. You don't have to change your swing to change 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.