In this issue we’ll discuss…

1) When Grass Is Leaning Against Your Ball
2) Stop Pushing Those Irons
3) Question of the Week – Stop Digging Into The Sand
4) Article – Avoiding Bad Holes
5) Article – Giving Golf Lessons To Children

1) When Grass Is Leaning Against Your Ball

Hitting from deep rough is hard. Hitting from deep rough where the grass is leaning against your ball is even harder. The grass slows down the clubhead and grabs the hosel. It also shuts the clubface down, driving the ball into the grass instead of out of it. But executing this shot and extricating yourself from this kind of rough is more in the setup than swing.

Here are five keys to this shot:

* Take an extra club
* Stand closer to the ball
* Play the ball slightly back
* Open the clubface a few degrees
* Grip the club tighter

Take an extra club when hitting this shot. (If the grass were going with the ball, you’d take less club.) Stand closer to the ball, which helps you swing the club more upright and reduces the amount of time the ball is in contact with the grass. And open the clubface a little, which helps compensate for the rough’s shutdown effect. Also, grip the club a little tighter. But don’t strangle it.

Take your normal swing. Just hinge your wrists a bit earlier. This is a key move because it creates the angle you need to come down on the ball, and keeps the grass from slowing your club and closing the face as it goes through the grass. You know you’ve hinged your wrists properly if your thumbs are pointing skyward when the club reaches hip height on the backswing. From there, it’s just a question of completing the swing.

Many golfers struggle with deep rough, especially when the grass is leaning against the ball. It’s a difficult lie to play. If that’s you, use the five keys to execute the shot. And don’t try a “miracle” shot. If you’re close to the hole and you want to try punching it onto the green, that’s fine. Otherwise, just get the ball on the fairway in good position for the next shot.

2) Stop Pushing Those Irons

If your most common mis-hit is a weak flare to the right (for right-handers) or you don’t feel balanced at the end of your swing, chances are you’re pushing your irons. The position of the clubface at impact ultimately determines a shot’s shape. If the clubface is slightly open (or square) at impact and you employ an in-to-out swing path, you’re pushing the shot.

Here are six tips to stop pushing your irons:

* Weaken your right hand grip
* Play the ball forward
* Open up your upper body
* Point the toe of the club skyward
* Clear your body through impact
* Swing left after impact

To stop pushing your irons, turn your right-hand grip slightly to the left (for right-handers). This move prevents your right hand from becoming too active and keeps the clubface square through impact. Also, play the ball forward at address and open up your upper body in relation to the target line at address.

Halfway into your backswing, make sure the toe of your iron points skyward. If the pushing problem is severe, cup your left wrist at the top of your swing. Also, work on clearing your body through impact. You should feel as if your hips are opening up towards the target and your front shoulder is moving forward as you strike the ball. You should feel as if the grip end of the club is moving left but that the clubface remains open.

Below is a drill designed to help you stop pushing your irons:

Lay down two clubs parallel to the target. The first should be along your feet and the second outside the ball, creating a track with the ball in the middle. Then make your swing. Keep your cap’s brim in line with the outer club. This keeps your head on your swing path. If the brim of your cap shifts beyond the outer club, you’ll push the shot. Practice this drill faithfully and you’ll eliminate pushed shots for good.

3) Question of the Week – Stop Digging Into The Sand

Q. Hi Jack, I have problems hitting my sand wedge. I set up approximately 30 degrees left, open my sand wedge to point right of the target, place approximately 75% of my weight on my left foot and swing along my stance line. The result is that I dig into the sand too deeply. Do you have any suggestions?

Tim O’Leary

A. Thanks for the question, Tim. I have two suggestions. Instead of placing your weight on your left foot, try distributing it evenly. That should help. In addition, let the club do the work. With a sand wedge you want the club to “bounce” though the sand. Striking the sand in this way enables you to control the depth of the divot you take as well as the distance the ball travels.

The key to using the club’s bounce is keeping the clubface open through impact, which you can achieve by gripping the club properly. Many golfers grip the club first and then turn the clubface into position. Instead, open the clubface a few degrees, then take your normal grip. This keeps the clubface open throughout the swing and lets you take advantage of the club’s bounce. Also, focus on a spot two or three inches behind the ball and accelerate through the ball.

Follow these suggestions and you’ll blast out of a greenside bunker without digging deeply into the sand.

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/newsletter09172008.html

Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article – Avoiding Bad Holes
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/avoiding-bad-holes.html

5) Article – Giving Golf Lessons To Children
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/giving-golf-lessons-to-children.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

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.

Ryder Cup Captures Fans InterestValhalla Golf Club, Louisville, Kentucky, one America’s top courses, is the site of the 37th Ryder Cup competition. One of golf grandest events, the Ryder Cup pits a 12-member team of professional golfers from America against a 12-member team of professional golfers from Europe. This year’s Ryder Cup teams include some of the biggest names in golf, including Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, and Padraig Harrington as well as Anthony Kim, Justin Rose, and Jim Furyk.

The Ryder Cup is unique. No other professional golf tournament of such note employs a team concept. Conceived in the 1920s, the Ryder Cup is named for Samuel Ryder, a wealthy Englishman from St. Albans in Hertfordshire. He provided the trophy and helped establish regular matches. Since then, the Ryder Cup has become one of the world’s greatest sporting events. Held every two years, it’s clearly one of the most anticipated golf events of the year—and with good reason. You never know what will happen at the competition.

Ryder Cup Format
The key to the Ryder Cup’s popularity is match play. It adds pressure, nerves, and gamesmanship to the tournament—attributes missing in other tournaments. You can also add a dash of patriotism to the tournament, which heats up the competition even more. These things plus the pairings make the Ryder Cup a must see event for fans.

The order of play is Foursomes in the morning and Fourball in the afternoon for the first two days. The final day’s play is Singles.

Below is a description of the match play formats used in the Ryder Cup:

* Foursomes play involves four groups of two-man teams. Two golfers play against two other golfers with each team playing one ball. The players play alternate shots until the hole is played out. Team members alternate playing the tee shot. One player tees off on odd-numbered holes, the other on even-numbered holes. The team with the lowest score on the hole wins the hole. Should the two teams tie for the best score, the hole is halved.

* Fourball play matches four groups of two two-man teams. Each member of the two-man teams plays his own ball. Thus, four balls are in play per hole, with each of the four players competing. The team with the lowest score on the hole wins the hole. Should the two teams tie for the best score, the hole is halved.

* Singles play pits one player from the American Team against one player from the European Team. A player wins the match when he is up more holes than there are holes remaining. The player with the lowest score on the hole wins the hole. Should the two players tie for the best score, the hole is halved.

The Order of Play
The Ryder Cup’s order of play is the result of a gradual evolution. Until 1959, the competition held four Foursome matches on one day and eight Singles matches on the other day, each of 36 holes. Official changed this in 1961. They held four 18-hole Foursome matches on the morning of the first day, four 18-hole Foursome matches on the afternoon, eight 18-hole Singles on the morning of the second day, and eight more Singles on the afternoon. One point was at stake for each match win, boosting the total number of points available to 24.

In 1963, officials added Fourball matches for the first time, boosting the total number of points available to 32. They changed the format again in 1977. They included five Foursomes on opening day, five Fourball on the second day, and 10 Singles on he final day, reducing the total points to 20. Officials revised the competition once again in 1979 to include four Fourball and four Foursome matches the first two days and 12 singles matches on the third day, making the total points available 28. That’s the way it stands for this year’s tournament.

The Pairings
The pairings also make this tournament a must see event. Each team captain submits an order of play independently to the appointed official. Tournament officials then match up the order of plays, resulting in the “pairings.” Since the pairings are dependent on the order of play, golf fans never know who will be playing against each other until they are announced. Neither do the team captains. One year, for example, Tiger Woods, the number one ranked player in the world, teamed with Phil Mickelson, the second ranked player in the world, for the American side. That’s a dream team of golf if there ever was one.

For golf fans, the Ryder Cup is generally a refreshing change from the stroke play events held almost every weekend end. This year’s competition promises to be more exciting than past tournaments. With Tiger Woods out, it will be a real challenge for the American team to defeat the European team, which has won the last three tournaments and five out of the last six.

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.

Learning to maintain your poise when something goes wrong isn’t easy. It isn’t something you pick up from a golf lesson or a golf tip magazine. It’s something you learn on your own. Nevertheless, if you can learn to maintain your cool when things go bad, you’ll minimize the damage done on a bad hole or during a bad round. More importantly, you’ll boost your confidence dramatically. That in turn will help you cut strokes from your average score and keep a lid on your golf handicap.

Having an arsenal of instant on-course swing fixes to also helps. These fixes enable you to regain your poise when trouble strikes and instill confidence in your game when you need it most. We’re not talking about major swing fixes here. Save those for the range. We’re talking about minor adjustments—small changes designed to correct a specific swing fault that’s preventing you from playing well. The key is recognizing and adjusting quickly to the fault when it occurs. Below are some instant on-course fixes.

Losing Putter Feel
Your missing six-footers because you’ve lost your feel for putting. The more you miss, the more you start to sweat. The more your start to sweat, the tighter your grip gets. Gripping the putter too tightly causes you to lose feel in your hands. Suddenly, you have hands of stone. Next time that happens grip the putter more in your fingers. This not only increases your feel, it also helps gauge distances. In addition, decreasing grip pressure allows the putter to travel on a natural path, enabling you to make consistent contact, and it encourages a freer release on short putts.

Stopping The Shanks
Clanking shots off the hosel rots. Usually, it happens at the worst time—when you’re hitting a chip shot to the green, costing you strokes and maybe par. Shanks happen because the club gets behind your body on your backswing. When you come around, the first thing hitting the ball is the hosel. That’s not good. When shanking starts, take an extra practice swing or two. Concentrate on keeping the clubface in front of your body on the inside of an imaginary ball. Instead of hitting the real ball on the hosel, you’ll hit it in the middle of your clubface.

Busted Bunker Shots
Some days you live in the bunkers. Every hole, it seems, you’re in a bunker. And sometimes you’re hitting from one bunker to another. Unfortunately, you’re having a hard time getting out of them. And that’s costing you strokes. When that happens, try this: Move the ball forward a little in your stance. Playing the ball of the instep of your front foot opens the sand wedge up. Keeping the clubface clause is a major cause of bad bunker shots. In fact, if you’re going to make a mistake with ball position, moving the ball too far forward is better than moving it too far back. In addition, focus on throwing the sand beneath the ball out of the bunker, not the ball itself. The result: You’ll hit the classic explosion shot.

Hitting Low Flat Hooks
If you start hitting low hooks off the tee, you may be reaching for the ball. That means you’re bending too far over the ball. Instead, stand up a little straighter in address. And when you take a practice swing, swing to the inside of an imaginary the ball, missing it. You’ll feel your whole body straightening out and your arms getting stronger. You’ll also feel your arms getting longer. They’re supposed to hang from your shoulders, not out from them.

Missing Short Putts
Missing too many eight-foot putts erodes confidence. Missing two-footers obliterates it. To avoid this, narrow your focus. Instead of looking at the hole, pick out a spot on the back of the cup. Putt to that spot. This creates a positive image in your head and banishes any thoughts of missing the putt. You can also try picking out a spot between you and the cup in line with the hole and putting to that. It’s easier to hit something closer to you than farther away. This will also banish negative thoughts. That’s the key.

Maintaining your poise and concentration when things go bad keeps your score and golf handicap in check. So if you want to become a better golfer, learn this skill. Unfortunately, it isn’t something you pick up at golf instruction sessions. It’s something you learn on your own. Having a stock of instant on course fixes—minor changes to correct a swing fault—also helps you maintain your cool and boost your confidence. Sometimes, a minor change is all you need to transform a disastrous round into a good one.

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

In this issue we’ll discuss…

1) Be Wary of Course Designers
2) Hitting Irons Like The Pros
3) Question of the Week – Simple Golf Exercises
4) Article – Five Instant On-Course Fixes
5) Article – Ryder Cup Captures Fans Interest

Jack’s Note: We’re ramping up for what appears to be a pretty good Ryder Cup matchup next week…even without Tiger. I initially said we didn’t have a chance but I believe based on the lineups the US has a pretty decent shot at it.

Also, to clarify the video I sent earlier this week…we are offering a $171 discount off the entire DVD collection. That means you can have access to all our titles (Distance, Driving, Putting, etc.) for a ridiculously low price never offered before. More details here.

1) Be Wary of Course Designers

Be wary of course designers. They can cost you strokes. Designers want to create fair, but challenging courses. So they sometimes play tricks on you—especially with tee boxes. They’re not always aligned squarely to the hole or to the best line for a drive. In fact, the designers often align the tee boxes right or left of the true line to deceive you. Making tee boxes oval shaped increases the deception.

Here are five tips on overcoming a designer’s tricks:

* Assess the situation carefully
* Pick out a specific target
* Align feet, hips, and shoulders
* Align your clubface to the target line
* Stay within yourself

There’s nothing in the rules of golf that says course designers must help you. Or, that course superintendents must help you. The way a superintendent mows the grass doesn’t always give you a true aim down the course for example. So take some time to study the hole before teeing off to assess the situation and select the true target line.

Also, pick out a specific target on the fairway. Align your feet, hips, and shoulders to the target. Then, align your clubface to it. Visualize the flight path needed to hit the target before swinging.

In addition, stay within yourself when teeing off. Golfers often overswing trying to hit a bomb from the tee. It’s nice to belt out a deep drive, but it’s more important to be accurate than long, especially if deep rough borders the fairway.

Aim and alignment are important. A bomb off the tee can cost you strokes if you’re not aligned properly. Take a few extra seconds to determine the best line for your shot. Don’t be fooled by things like the angle or the shape of the tee boxes or the mowing pattern on the fairway.

2) Hitting Irons Like The Pros

Do you marvel at how long the pros can hit their irons? I know I do. Not long ago I read where Tiger Woods birdied a par 5 by hitting driver then pitching wedge. That had to be a long pitching wedge. The key to belting an iron is maintaining a firm front side (left for right-handers, right for left-handers). Weekend golfers often slide forward as they move into their downswing, which means their front hip fails to clear.

Here are three things you should feel when solid irons:

1) Back hip turning down
2) No sliding of hips
3) Full extension of arms downward

If you feel these things when hitting, your front side will be firm. That in turn means your arms aren’t bent and getting slack through impact, and that your chest isn’t turning, so you’re not swiping at the ball. It also means that your hands aren’t breaking down and flipping over through the hitting area and that the extension in the front arm flows down and through the muscles in your front side and thigh.

Here’s a drill to help you firm up your front side:

Take your setup. Have some one place an old shaft in the ground two inches in front of the outside of your front foot. Angle the shaft back to allow for free hip clearing. Swing back normally. Start down. Once you make a solid weight shift into your left side, rotate your left hip in time to avoid the shaft. If your hip touches the shaft, you know you have to work harder to tame your front leg drive.

The drill trains you to maintain a firm front side when hitting irons. That helps create more solid strikes, which in turn will drive the ball farther, maybe not as far as Tiger Woods, but far enough to chop strokes off that golf handicap.

3) Question of the Week – Simple Golf Exercises

Q. Hi, Jack, Do you have golf exercises that would help my golf game?

Joseph Cordani
St. Lucie West, FL

A. Good question, Joseph. There are many good exercises that will help improve your game. But without knowing specifically what area of your game you want to enhance it’s hard to provide examples. Nevertheless, many good sources of golf exercises exist, like videos, CDs, books, and so on, where you can do some research. Visit your book- store. Also, try a google search, if you have access to a computer. In addition, check with a specialist in golf conditioning, like Mike Pedersen. He has his own Web site (www.mikepedersengolf.com) on the topic. It can help you pinpoint specific exercises.

Before starting a program, get evaluated to determine your golf fitness level. It’s critical because it defines your limitations. Once you know those, you can create a program designed to strengthen your weaknesses and improve your game. If you’re looking for a complete golf-conditioning program, focus on strength, flexibility, endurance, and nutrition. If you’re a senior golfer, focus on flexibility and strength. Both decline as we age. Keep in mind also that you don’t necessarily need a gym to exercise. You can do many golf exercises at home or in your office. You just need a few minutes a day and a little space.
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/newsletter09102008.html

Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article – Five Instant On-Course Fixes
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/five-instant-on-course-fixes.html

5) Article – Ryder Cup Captures Fans Interest
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/ryder-cup-captures-fans-interest.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

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.