Everybody wants to hit it longer and straighter, too. But the two don’t always go together, as I tell students taking my golf lessons. Those of us who hit them longer don’t always hit them straighter. And those of us who hit them straighter don’t always hit them longer. Wouldn’t it be great if you could do both? It would undoubtedly chop strokes from your golf handicap.

Three moves executed correctly guarantee you’ll hit them long and straight. Combined these moves deliver awesome power without disrupting rhythm and timing. In fact, when executed correctly, these three moves add 20, 30, maybe even 40 yards to your drives while keeping the ball on the fairway. If you’re serious about chopping strokes from your golf handicap, ingrain these three moves in your swing.

The Magic Move
Achieving the right swing plane on the downswing is critical to driving the ball far and straight. Getting into the correct swing plane starts in the backswing, as I’ve mentioned in my golf tips. A good backswing requires a left (right for left-handers) arm swing that’s on a slightly higher plane than your shoulders, providing free passage to the ball on the downswing. If your arm swing is off, however, you’ll achieve the wrong swing plane and your swing will be off.

Employing a simple move at the top of your backswing guarantees you achieve the right swing plane. This move is so essential to generating power some golf teachers call it “the magic move.” And it’s easy to execute. As you start your downswing, shift your weight onto your front foot while bringing your back elbow down to your body. As the weight shifts to the left and the elbow drops down, the club falls automatically into the right slot for the correct swing plane, flattening out your swing ever so slightly.

Achieving this second swing plane is critical to generating power. It runs through the correct angle of your spine, the natural axis around which your shoulders must turn to deliver a clean, crisp blow to the ball. In essence, then, you’re using two swing planes. The first comes from executing the correct takeaway. The second comes from dropping your elbow down before the downswing, moving you into the ideal position from which to start your downswing and deliver the clubhead squarely to the ball.

Tucking The Elbow
A second power move is tucking in your back elbow in front of your back hip. When executing this move, you should feel like your elbow is attached to the front of your back hip. By tucking in your elbow, the club becomes parallel to the target line and the club’s toe points straight up—two essentials positions for delivering power to the ball. By tucking in your elbow, you’ll hit the ball longer—and straighter—with much less effort.

Players with high golf handicaps often fail to tuck in their elbows, costing themselves distance. They leave them either over, under, or behind their back hip. Swinging over produces slices and pulls because it delivers the club on an outside-in path. Swinging under produces pushes and hooks because it delivers the club on an inside to out path. Swinging from behind your hip or with your elbows separate from your body inhibits your downswing and generates weak shots

Uncock Your Wrists
Uncocking your wrists also help deliver power to your swing. If you don’t uncock them at the right time—just before contact—you can’t maximize power. Watch Phil Mickelson, Charles Howell III, and Vijay Singh. They represent extreme examples of what’s called “the full release.” Their wrists fully uncock downward and the clubhead stays below the hands well into the release. Their lower hands almost come off the club.

Golfers who lack power or who have high golf handicaps tend to uncock their wrists early on through the follow-through. This move causes the club to point skyward too soon after the release. That’s not good. The clubhead should be below your hands just after impact, and remain slightly below them even in the release position before eventually coming up.

Incorporate these three moves in your swing and you’ll hit them longer and straighter. These moves eliminate the need to swing harder and help you maintain rhythm and timing—two keys to hitting the ball straighter. Ingraining these moves in your swing will payoff with better drives and a lower 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

August 27, 2008

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

1) Escaping Wet Sand
2) Short Pitches From Long Grass
3) Question of the Week – Rhythm: The King Of Swing
4) Article – Hitting It Long and Straight – The Magic Move
5) Article – Buying Custom Graphite Shafts – Pitfalls

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1) Escaping Wet Sand
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You hit into a greenside bunker and find your ball sitting in wet sand. As with most sand shots, you must slide your clubface under the ball at the swing’s lowest point. But with wet sand that’s difficult to do because it’s heavier than dry sand. If you don’t slide the clubface under the ball, however, it will go nowhere.

Here are 5 keys to escaping wet sand:

1. Test the sand with your feet
2. Take a wider stance
3. Set the ball in the middle
4. Open the clubface wide
5. Lean the shaft forward

Determine the sand’s hardness by testing it with your shoes. The shoe test reveals if the sand is hard-packed, just firm, or soft with a thin crust. If the sand is hard packed or firm, replace your lob wedge or sand wedge with a pitching wedge. Since you’re in a bunker, your club can’t touch the ground.

Take a wider stance than normal. The inside of your heels should line up with the outside of your shoulders. Position the ball in the middle of an open stance, so your hips and shoulders point about 30 degrees left of the target (right of the target, if your left-handed). Rotate the clubface wide open and lean the shaft forward. Visualize the same lean at impact to promote a downward blow.

Make a short backswing. Stop your hands between half and three-quarters back. Smoothly speed up so that the fastest part of your swing occurs as your club is digging through the sand. Don’t decelerate during the swing. Use your body. Turn your chest and hips toward the target through impact.

The key to escaping from wet sand is in the setup. Decide which club to use with the shoe test. Take a wider stance. Keep your backswing short and your downswing smooth. And accelerate into the ball. It will pop out of the bunker and you’ll have escaped the wet sand.

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2) Short Pitches From Long Grass
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Your approach shot barely misses the green. It lands in the rough, which is deep but not too deep. Your normal pitch shot won’t work from here because the grass is too long. The shot won’t give you the clean contact you need to escape the grass and leave the ball close. You need to adjust your pitching technique to get up and down.

Below are five keys to pitching from long grass:

1. Stand back from your address position
2. Positions your hands lower
3. Square the leading edge of the clubface
4. Swing normally with less force
5. Fine-tune your setup to land it close

Address the ball as you normally would, but stand back slightly. This stance lowers your hands a bit into a pre-cocked position, adding bounce to the club to push it cleanly through the grass. Square the leading edge of the clubhead, giving you more clubface area to strike the ball.

Make your normal pitch swing, but use 75 percent force. The low hands give you a sharp downswing, helping to slip the club under the ball. With this technique, the ball pops up more than moves forward, rescuing you from the grass.

Vary your stance and ball position depending on the grass and your distance from the pin. To pitch it higher, play the ball between the center of your stance and front foot. To pitch it lower, play the ball between the center of your stance and back foot. To pitch it farther, widen your stance and stay square to the ball. To pitch it shorter, choke down and use an open, narrow stance.

All pitch shots are not created equal. When the grass is really long, adjust your stance, swing, and grip based on the length of the grass and the distance to the hole. Practice this shot from different positions near the green to master this stroke-saving shot.

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3) Question of the Week – Rhythm: The King Of Swing
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Q. Dear Jack, I am a 14-handicap player. But sometimes I play to 8 and sometimes to a 24. I’m losing consistency from round to round. Sometimes my swing is very fast. When I try to slow it down, I hit it fat. How do I make my swing consistent like the pros?

Regards,
Sanjay

A. Thanks for the question, Sanjay. The key to generating consistency from round to round is rhythm. It’s the king of swing.

Improving rhythm is easy. Swing to a beat. For example, as you swing, say “One and two.” “One” is your backswing. “And” is your transition. “Two” is your downswing. You can also say “Back and through,” “turn and turn,” or any other mix of words that creates a beat.

Start by swinging with your eyes closed. Feel the weight of the club and sense its speed gradually accelerating from the top of the swing to impact and beyond. Recreate this rhythm at the practice range. Then, take it to the course. Once ingrained, you’ll have achieved a consistent swing speed. All your shots will be better—even your bad ones.

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/newsletter08272008.html

Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article – Hitting It Long and Straight – The Magic Move
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/hitting-it-long-and-straight-the-magic-move.html

5) Article – Buying Custom Graphite Shafts – Pitfalls
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/buying-custom-graphite-shafts-pitfalls.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, go to http://www.howtobreak80.com/newsetter.htm

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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.

By Jack Moorehouse

Accuracy off the tee is critical to scoring low. Hitting a 175-yard drive that finds the fairway beats hitting a hitting 225-yard drive that lands in deep rough almost every time. In deep rough the high grass grabs and twists your club, as I’ve pointed out in my golf tips, causing you to mishit the shot. Mis-hitting adds strokes to your score.

But being short off the tee also puts pressure on you in some situations, like when playing blind shots from the tee box. Simply put, blind shots are when you can’t see the flag or green from where you’re hitting. Not knowing exactly where your hitting creates tension in your swing. It also creates a sense of urgency. Together, these faults can sabotage your swing, causing you to hit fat or thin, or worse, hook or slice.

What you need is a strategy that boosts your confidence when paying blind shots from the tee. Confidence replaces tension and urgency with flow and rhythm, resulting in a fluid yet powerful swing. When your swing is fluid and powerful, your ballstriking is crisp. Crisp ballstriking produces more accurate shots off the tee, saving you strokes.
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Avoid Playing Somewhere Safe
When hitting blind shots off the tee, avoid the temptation to play the ball “somewhere safe.” Instead, pick out a specific target. For example, if you’re trying to cut a dogleg over trees, don’t just pick one tree to clear. Instead, pick a couple of reference points. Doing so, will keep you safe if you land your shot between them. Make sure you leave room for error on either side of the points. That way you won’t need to hit a perfect shot.

When hitting blind shots from the fairway, you should also pick out a specific target and aim for it rather than a general area. For many players, it’s harder hitting a blind shot from the fairway than off the tee. If you can’t see where you’re hitting to, you can easily end up in a lake, pond, or bunker, costing your strokes. Hit into enough lakes, ponds, and bunkers and you’ll launch your golf handicap through the stratosphere.

Walk To A Good Vantage Point
When faced with a blind approach shot, take time to walk to a good vantage point, one where you can see the pin or target clearly. Then find a visible target that you can use as an alignment aid. Sometimes, for example, you can use a tree that’s behind the green but directly in line with the pin. Now, aim for the tree. One course I play hangs a red flag from a tree to make it easier to align your shot.

If you would rather use the green as your target, choose two large objects bracketing the green and try splitting them with your shot. If there aren’t any usable alignment aids, you can have a playing partner walk ahead to give you a line, as long as he or she moves before you hit the ball. Also, avoid shifting your feet after you’re aligned. Instead, trust your aim and swing with confidence.

Hitting blind shots can be a nightmare. They can cost you a ton of strokes if you mis-hit them, which in turn can boost your golf handicap. To hit blind shots with confidence, pick a specific target and aim for it. The more specific the target, like a tree or a mound, the better off you are. Picking out a specific target boosts your confidence and takes pressure off you when hitting, especially if you’re a short but accurate hitter.

One other tip I give students taking my golf lessons: Always use a tee. If you’re hitting a hybrid raise the tee slightly higher than you would for an iron. Hitting off a tee with an iron or hybrid provides the clean club-to-ball contact you need to execute an accurate tee shot from the tee. This, in turn, produces better, more accurate drives.

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.

Few things are more unsettling than hitting into a greenside bunker. If you have problems hitting out of greenside bunkers, you could probably cut a stroke or two from your golf handicap just by improving your bunker play. Unfortunately, weekend golfers almost never practice bunker shots. Most golf ranges don’t have practice bunkers. As a result, they lack the confidence needed to hit a good bunker shot under pressure. In bunker play confidence is half the battle.

But building confidence isn’t difficult. If you simplify your sand strategy, learn the basics of the shot, and trust in your ability to execute, you’ll get out of most bunkers without difficulty. As you gain experience—and perhaps take a golf lesson or two—you’ll find bunker play getting easier and easier. After awhile, you won’t be intimidated by the shot. That’s the point at which you can start thinking about getting close with your sand shots.

Simplify Your Sand Strategy
No one likes to see his or her ball roll into a greenside bunker. But when it does, you have one goal and one goal: minimize further trouble. You don’t need to hit a miracle shot or go for a tightly cut pin to do that. You just need to get the ball out of the sand and onto the green. That alone will save you a stroke or two, depending on how often you hit into bunkers.

Too often golfers with high golf handicaps try to hit the perfect sand shot—a high soft shot that leaves them inches away from the cup. While hitting the perfect shot is great, it’s not always practical for high handicappers or for beginners who lack experience hitting out of greenside bunkers. Instead, simplify your sand strategy down to the most basic of goals—getting out of the bunker in one.

Use The Basic Explosion Shot
Obviously, it’s harder getting out of some bunkers than others. If the lip of the bunker is low and the green is not far away, you can putt your way out. You can even chip your way out of a low-lipped bunker in certain situations or use a lob wedge to get out. But the simplest, most efficient way escaping bunkers is hitting your basic explosion shot. Learning how to do this with a sand wedge is critical.

Keep in mind that the wedge is designed specifically for hitting out of bunkers. The sand wedge has a flange on the sole that extends below the leading edge. This flange is called the club’s bounce. To hit a good sand shot, you must use the club’s bounce effectively. The key is remembering that you want to hit the sand not the ball. You want the club to enter the sand behind the ball, displacing both the sand and the ball and throwing the ball onto the green.

Because the sand rather than the club throws the ball into the air, the shot is softer than usual, as I’ve mentioned in my golf tips. The shot requires a more forceful swing than a shot from the fairway. Below are the basics of the shot:

* Position the ball near the middle of an open stance
* Open the clubface and hover it above the ball
* Swing the club back on a steep upright plane
* Enter the sand two inches behind the ball
* Maintain grip pressure in the left hand
* Don’t allow the clubface to roll over at impact
* Finish high with your weight on your left side

If you need to hit a high shot over the bunker’s lip, move the ball forward an inch or two and keep your weight on your back leg. By keeping your weight back, your sand wedge maintains its original loft at impact. The ball pops out high and settles quickly on the green.

Conclusion
Don’t hurry a bunker shot. Take your time. Make sure your setup is perfect, your feet are firmly planted, and you don’t touch the sand with your club. Then, take a short, steep swing. Practice bunker shots whenever you can. Practice makes perfect and builds confidence. You’ll soon find it easier to hit a bunker than you thought. Improving sand play is a great way to cut strokes from 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.