Stroke play is the most popular format in competitive golf. It’s used in all PGA Tournaments, except in specific situations, like the Ryder Cup. The goal in stroke play is shooting the lowest score. In stroke play your focus is more on the course than your opponents. So it’s hard to apply pressure on your opponent in stroke play, even for players with low golf handicaps.

Match play differs from stroke play. In match play golfers compete directly against each other. Whoever shoots the lowest score on a hole wins the hole. Whoever wins the most holes at the end, wins the match. If the players (or teams) finish with the same score, the match is halved. Match play is a simple, straightforward format. But unlike stroke play, increasing pressure on your opponent is the secret to winning in match play.

A Balancing Act
Match play is a balancing act. You’re constantly weighing the need to play aggressively, putting pressure on your opponent, against the need to play conservatively. The player who plays the best under pressure usually wins the hole and the match. Handling pressure isn’t something golf lessons prepare you for. It’s something you learn on your own. Thus, if you’ve never played match play format, it takes getting used to.

Many golf leagues use match play format. It works well in this venue, but the format often differs slightly from league to league. In some leagues, golfers with lower golf handicaps must give players with higher golf handicaps strokes. Giving strokes evens off the competition, which is what handicaps are intended to do. It also adds pressure if you’re giving strokes to your opponent. It takes off pressure if you’re receiving strokes.

Match play dramatically changes how you play. While some experts urge you to play normally, others suggest playing aggressively. Playing aggressively enables you to apply pressure on your opponent and can force him to make mistakes. What determines how aggressively you play usually comes down to where you stand on the hole, where your opponent stands on the hole, and where the match stands.

On The Tee

Among the best places to apply pressure is on the tee. Hitting the fairway with your drive puts pressure on your opponent to do the same. If you hit a bad drive, you obviously take pressure off your opponent. Since the goal is to apply as much pressure as possible, use whatever club you have the most confidence in— 3-wood, driver, or hybrid—to get off the tee well.

On the fairway you can apply pressure to your opponent by hitting good approach shots, just as most golf tips recommend. But keep in mind that you can hit a bad approach shot and still win the hole if your opponent also hits a bad shot. In fact, you can shoot an 8 on a hole and win the hole, if your opponent shoots a 9. So don’t fret on bad shots. Instead, stay focused. The key is always being aware of where your opponent is and what his or her score is on the hole.

On The Green
The green is also a great place to apply pressure to your opponent. Knowing when to play aggressively and when to play conservatively is the key. For example, if your opponent is laying 3 and is five inches from the whole, chances are good he or she will sink the putt for a 4. If you’re laying 3, you need to sink the putt to tie your opponent for the hole, so you might as well be aggressive no matter where you are. The last thing you want to do is leave yourself short.

On the other hand, if your opponent is laying 3 and is 20 feet from the hole, you might as well putt conservatively, if you are also laying 3. You don’t want to run the ball 10 feet past the hole. It could cost you an additional stroke or two and, quite possibly, the hole. The secret is knowing where your opponent is and what he or she is shooting. Knowing when to concede a putt and when not to is also a great way to increase pressure on a golfer.

Match play is fun and different. It’s about winning holes, not lowering your golf handicap. In match play, always know where you stand on the hole, where your opponent stands on the hole, and where the two of you stand in the match. And don’t panic if you fall behind early. You can still win the match. Just stay focused, like my golf tips suggest.

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.

Playing By Feel

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.

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.

In this issue we’ll discuss…

1) Adding Spin To Long Irons
2) Making Short Putts Automatic
3) Question of the Week – Hitting Low Penetrating Drives
4) Article – Playing By Feel
5) Article – How To Win At Match Play

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1) Adding Spin To Long Irons
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Many golfers prefer hitting hybrid clubs to long irons. But some still like hitting long irons. The biggest danger with hitting long irons is catching the ball thin. The longer the iron, the greater the chance of catching it thin. The problem: lack of ball compression. Instead of compressing the ball into the ground, you’re hanging back too long, causing the club to hit up on the ball.

Here are 5 keys to hitting long irons solidly:

* Take your normal address position
* Shift your weight to your back heel
* Stretch your backswing out
* Keep your back heel planted
* Hit down on the ball to compress it

You must be on your front side to hit long irons solidly, which means you may have to make some slight adjustments to your swing. Take your regular address then shift your weight to your back leg. Ideally, your back hip should be over your back heel. This move tilts your shoulders upwards slightly and away from the target.

Having made these adjustments, take the club back slowly. Stretch out your arms in your backswing as much as possible and keep your back heel planted. Keep your weight on your back side. Now swing down on the ball. With your back side stretched taught at the top of your backswing, you’re in position to deliver the club powerfully to the ball, compressing it and adding spin.

To get the feel of this stretching move, use a Theraband, which you can get at most sporting goods stores. Place the band around the instep of your front foot and the fingers of your left hand (right, if you’re left-handed). The Theraband adds resistance as you swing to the top, the kind of resistance you should feel when swinging.

If you hit your long irons thin, focus on compressing the ball. It adds the distance and spin you need for drilling solid approach shots consistently.

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2) Making Short Putts Automatic
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Admit it. Nothing’s more deflating than missing a two-foot putt. But if you release your putter properly, you’ll make sinking short putts automatic. Releasing the putter allows it to swing on plane while the putterface rotates naturally during the swing. It’s an important fundamental that good putters master. And it saves you strokes

Here are five keys to releasing the putter:

* Take your normal putting stance
* Position the ball forward
* Point the grip at a fixed point
* Maintain bent arms and wrists
* Keep your head down throughout

The key to releasing the putter is keeping the butt end of the putter pointing at a fixed spot throughout the stroke. With a traditional putter, that spot is your naval. Other keys to making short putts are keeping your elbows and wrists bent and your head down, from address to finish. Don’t watch the ball. Listen for it to fall in the hole. Also, position the ball forward in your stance, but not too far forward.

With a belly putter, keeping the grip pointing to a fixed spot is easy. It’s already attached to your naval, making it easy to release the putterhead. The long putter is a different story. It’s also fixed at its end, but against the sternum instead of the naval. The putterhead releases freely with this method as well.

The Circle Drill teaches accurate putting. Place tees around the hole about a step or two apart, all at a distance of about four feet from the hole. Make eight stations in total. Begin anywhere. Try sinking four consecutive putts at each station. Each time you sink four putts, start over. After sinking two sets of four, move to the next station. Keep going until you can go around the circle twice without missing. Once your confident from four feet, move to five feet out.

Focus on releasing the putter while doing this drill. Once you ingrain this fundamental, draining short putts will be automatic.

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3) Question of the Week – Hitting Low Penetrating Drives
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Q. Hi Jack, I have a problem that I’ve lived with it for a long time. I drive the ball straight with a slight draw. The problem is that all of my drives are sky high. They stop exactly where they drop, without any further roll. Hence, my drive is only 200-220 yards long. How can I make my drive lower and roll further?

Thanks
Santhi Kanoktanaporn
Bangkok, Thailand

A. Thanks for the question, Santhi. Stopping your drive exactly where it lands isn’t always a bad thing. It’s great if you want to hit a precise spot on the fairway. However, you don’t need to make radical changes to your swing to drive the ball more on a line. You just need to make some minor adjustments.

1. Tee the ball slightly lower. If you’re using a driver with an oversized clubhead, be careful how low you go. Dropping the tee too low with a big clubhead spells disaster.

2. Finish with your weight going forward. If you finish with your weight on your back foot, you’ll hit the ball in the air instead of on a line.

3. Turn your left hand (right hand for lefties) downward slightly on your grip. It delofts the clubface a bit.

4. Play the ball back slightly from its normal position. Don’t move it too far back, just a little.

Test these adjustments out at the range. Find which ones work. Then, ingrain them in your swing. You’ll hit the ball with a low penetrating trajectory that rolls when it hits.

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/newsletter09032008.html

Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article – Playing By Feel
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/playing-by-feel.html

5) Article – How To Win At Match Play
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/how-to-win-at-match-play.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.

More and more pro golfers are switching to customer graphite shafts in their drivers. At last count, more than 90 percent of them use a custom graphite shaft in this club. Even players long known for with steel-shafted drivers have succumbed to this trend. And where the tour goes, so inevitably goes the consumer. Thus, the trend of switching to a custom graphite shaft in one’s driver is among the hottest with weekend players with all ranges of golf handicaps.

Unfortunately, logic doesn’t always reign when it comes to buying custom graphite shafts. Some weekend golfers gladly pay a premium for the chance to use the top shafts on tour, like Fujikura’s Pro 95 graphite model. Others happily pay a high price for color. UST’s Proforce Gold, a graphite yellow shaft with purple trim, is among the most popular models with weekend players—golf handicaps not withstanding. Needless to say, there’s a better way of selecting a custom graphite shaft.

Understanding Shafts
Understanding the shaft is simple. Its purpose is to transfer energy from the golfer to the clubhead and into the ball. Ideally, golfers need a shaft that’s not too long and has sufficient flex. The amount of flex depends on the individual and his or her swing speed. For example, seniors generally benefit more from using shafts with more flex than shafts with less flex, as I explain in my golf tips. So do women. Seniors and women also benefit more from using graphite shafts rather than steel.

The key measurement with shafts is torque. Simply put, torque is the amount the clubhead turns in your hands when the clubhead hits the ball off-center. Among the hardest things to control in manufacturing graphite shafts, torque is more of a concern for players with high golf handicaps than low. That’s because they mis-hit the ball more often than players’ with low golf handicaps. Thus, drivers with custom graphite shafts tend to be better for weekend golfers.

Greater Torsional Stiffness
Custom graphite shafts have greater torsional stiffness than their stock counter parts. That’s good because today’s larger titanium clubheads put more stress on shafts that previous clubhead designs. So you need more torsional stiffness. Custom graphite shafts can also be expensive. Prices range from $50 to $200, a result of the grade of graphite used, the manufacturing process employed, and other intangible factors, like star appeal and marketing. Steel shafts, on the other hand, go for about $8 each.

Excessive torque reduces accuracy because it makes the clubhead twist off-line on off-center hits. Thus, it’s better for weekend golfers to go with a custom graphite shaft featuring as little torque as possible. But you must be carefully, as I tell students who take my golf lessons. Only golfers with very aggressive downswings, very delayed releases, and swing speeds of greater than 120 miles per hour should consider a shat with a torque measurement under 2.5 degrees.

Getting Lighter And Lighter
Clearly, today’s graphite shafts are better than ever. Manufacturers are getting closer to producing shafts that are a weightless connection between grip and clubhead. Of course, they’ll never achieve that goal. There will always be some weight to the shaft. But there’s no denying that custom graphite shafts are getting lighter and lighter, and the lighter the shaft the faster your clubhead speed through impact. That usually means more distance on your drives.

But distance isn’t the only considerations when it comes to custom graphite shafts. Feel is important, too. If a club doesn’t feel right, you probably won’t hit it well. So if you’re buying a new shaft for your driver, do yourself a favor. Find a good custom clubfitter. He or she probably has a range of shafts at his or her disposal, a launch monitor, and a computer swing analyzer to help choose the right shaft. Those tools enable a good clubfitter to match the right swing with the right shaft. And that’s a key to getting the most out of your shaft.

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.